Campaign Finance

by Pippa Norris | (The Conversation) | – – The world is currently transfixed by the spectacle of American elections. From New York, London and Paris to Beijing, Moscow, and Sydney there is endless heated debate in the news media and across dinner tables about the factors fueling the remarkable success of Donald Trump, speculation […]

Bill of Rights

Best Movie of 2016: Michael Moore skewers US Inequality in “Where to Invade Next”

contributors

By George Lakey | ( Waging Nonviolence ) | – – Many fields of endeavor have what they call “best practices,” and self-respecting workers look for those. I wouldn’t expect Michael Moore to focus there, since his films delight in blistering attacks on capitalism, the U.S. healthcare system and gun culture. That’s why I was […]

Campaign Finance

Hot Sugar Daddies Of The 2016 Election

contributors

Francesca Fiorentini | (AJ+ Video Report) | – – “Political sugar daddies have a strong grip on the 2016 election. These billionaires know what they want, and what they want is candidates who will return the favor once they’re president.” AJ+: “The Sugar Daddies Of The 2016 Election”

African-Americans

Could a post-Scalia court restore Campaign Finance Sanity & pull back from Plutocracy?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – There is no guarantee that the successor to the late Justice Antonin Scalia will be a liberal. But only if Cruz wins the presidency can we expect a nominee as hard right as Scalia. In all likelihood, the court has just shifted at least somewhat to […]

Campaign Finance

The “Democracy” of Billionaires & the Most Expensive Election ever Bought (Except for Bernie Sanders)

contributors

By Nomi Prins | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – Speaking of the need for citizen participation in our national politics in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said, “Our brand of democracy is hard.” A more accurate characterization might have been: “Our brand of democracy is cold hard cash.” Cash, mountains of it, […]

Banking

Fearing the Bern, Billionaire Bloomberg Threatens to Buy Election for Establishment

contributors

By Jon Queally, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org ) | – – Former New York City mayor indicates willingness to spend “at least $1 billion”… especially if Sanders bumps Clinton. Is the real establishment getting worried? As news broke Saturday afternoon that billionaire former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is “seriously” considering the idea […]

Campaign Finance

GOP Billionaires Complain Super-Pacs aren’t Buying Election Effectively

contributors

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks Video Report) | – – “Republican billionaires are used to being able to buy elections, and are now crying about how Super-PAC’s aren’t all-powerful. Donald Trump’s “earned media” is throwing a wrench into their plans. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down . . . […]

Campaign Finance

Kabul on the Potomac: How America became the most Corrupt Society in the West

contributors

By Rebecca Gordon | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – A top government official with energy industry holdings huddles in secret with oil company executives to work out the details of a potentially lucrative “national energy policy.” Later, that same official steers billions of government dollars to his former oil-field services company. Well-paid elected representatives act […]

Bernie Sanders

While Sanders Scores Small Donors, Clinton and Bush Buoyed by Wall Street

contributors

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | ( Commondreams.org | – – In terms of support from financiers, ‘no other candidates came close to Clinton and Bush’ “She’s gonna all of a sudden become Mrs. Wall Street if she’s elected,” one banker said of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. While the 2016 U.S. presidential election fundraising […]