January 21, 2024—21.3 million Americans have signed up for Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) health plans in this year's open enrollment season, including 5 million first-time enrollees, signaling the growing importance of this key plank in American social democracy.

January 18—Don't throw out the books yet! A new study from researchers at Columbia Teachers College has concluded that students learn better using paper books as opposed to digital screens.

January 18—An open letter from over 250 billionaires and millionaires to the world leaders meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos demands that governments begin to tax the exorbitant fortunes accumulated by the super-rich in recent decades, citing the need to combat "economic, societal and ecological" instability (Guardian article). A related piece from the Social Europe site highlights the distorting effect of large fortunes both in the marketplace and in our democracies.

January 16—Speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' annual meeting in Washington, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen lauded the robust performance of the U.S. economy, which she said has vindicated spending decisions made by the President Joe Biden.

January 17—U.S. Secretary of State has reiterated the Biden administration's position that a Palestinian state will be an indispensable part of achieving peace in the Middle East.

January 16—Americans will have to get used to fellow customers packing heat while buying their stamps, thanks to a January 15 ruling by Trump-appointed federal District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, following recent Supreme Court rullings on the 2nd Amendment. Much social progress in the United States in coming years will depend upon dismantling the Trump federal court system, including the Supreme Court.

January 13—With 2023 now having clocked in as the hottest year on record for Planet Earth, and with global warming almost at the multi-nationally desired threshhold of 1.5 degrees (Celsius), scientists fear that trends may be worsening.

January 12—Mississippi's Department of Public Safety has released body camera footage showing Sergeant Greg Capers, of the Indianola, MI, police, shooting 11-year-old Aderrien Murray while responding to a domestic violence call. A Mississippi grand jury decided not to recommend charges on December 14.

January 12—The Biden administration, pushing ahead with its commitment to a sustainable future, has announced $623 million in grants to states, local governments and tribal entities for the construction of EV charging stations. 

January 8—Donald Trump has called for the release of all those prosecuted for storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, referring to those captured on video attacking police, rampaging through the Capitol and threatening death to Mike Pence and Nancy Pelose as "hostages." Never since the Civil War has there been a greater threat to the fundamental principles of American democracy.

January 5—Congressional negotiators from the two major parties have arrived at top-line figures of $886 billion in defense and $772 billion in non-defense spending for this fiscal year. Still at issue is whether House Speaker Mike Johnson can keep the hard-right Freedom Caucus in line.

January 5—The Supreme Court of the United States has announced that it will rule on whether Donald Trump can be kept off state ballots on grounds of the "insurrection clause" of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. Officials in both Colorado and Maine have declared Trump ineligible to appear on primary ballots in their states. The case will be taken up on February 8.

January 5—A Colorado police officer involved in the detention of a Colorado man who died after being injected with the sedative ketamine has been sentenced to 14 months in prison. The great trajedy of this case is that the police had no constitutional right to stop McClain in the first place: a resident had called the police to report that a man dressed in a winter coat and a ski mask was walking through the neighborhood on a warm summer night. Reality check: it is not illegal to wear winter clothes in the summer; under current law, police can only detain citizens when there is reasonable suspicion that they are involved in criminal activity (see, on this site, "Terry v Ohio, Stop and Frisk, and the Making of the American Police State").

January 6—Florida abortion access advocates have gathered the requisite signatures to place a measure banning laws which restrict abortion access before fetal viability on the November ballot.

January 5—The Biden administration anounced yesterday that $162 million will be provided under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act to Microchip Technology, of Chandler, AZ, to expand manufacturing of the economically and strategically vital components in Colorado and Oregon.