Portside

The Republicans are plotting to literally rewrite the Constitution to eliminate core rights and protections. The Constitutional Convention, in the plain language of the leading organizer for it, aims “to reverse 115 years of progressivism.”

If their plan works, these Republican toadies of the billionaires who fund and own them will rewrite our Constitution & state governors, the US Congress, and the President will have no say whatsoever…

“Stand Your Ground laws threaten public safety, encourage armed vigilantism, and promote a culture of ‘shoot first, ask questions later.”

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) tries to rewrite the state laws that govern your rights, often benefiting huge corporations. A review of hundreds of tax filings by CMD reveals some of the top bankrollers of ALEC.

Will the billionaires and corporations behind ALEC and other groups fighting racial, gender, income, and educational equality in America succeed?

Tennessee, Montana and Oklahoma are the latest states to pass anti-protest laws. Other bills in Iowa, Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have progressed in the last two months.

Anyone who imagined, after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton, that the Republican right had maxxed out the possibilities for suppressing the votes of people unlikely to vote for its candidates was sorely mistaken.

The Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME is poised to decimate public-sector unions—and it’s been made possible by a network of right-wing billionaires, think tanks and corporations.

After six months, Betsy DeVos has taken some major steps to change education policy, and her very presence at the head of the U.S. Education Department signals something important about the past, present and future of public education in the United States. She faces protests at many public appearances, which is why she receives special protection from the U.S. Marshals Service, at an average cost so far this year of $1 million a month.