TruthOut

New polling demonstrates that a majority of Americans believe it’s more important to control gun violence than it is to protect gun rights. The polling demonstrates that voters believe gun reform is necessary to curtail the vast number of gun-related deaths in the U.S. each year. But lawmakers have largely ignored constituents’ demands, with the majority of gun laws enacted this year granting...

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On Wednesday night, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced his 2024 bid for the GOP nomination for president in a Twitter livestream that was marred by glitches and technical difficulties. The first-of-its-kind event, which was hyped up by both DeSantis and Twitter owner Elon Musk, was widely panned by political and media observers. Musk, along with tech entrepreneur David Sacks, hosted the livestream on...

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As calls grow for an end to the war in Ukraine, a number of recent developments indicate the war could instead be expanding beyond Ukraine’s borders. Russia has signed an agreement with Belarus to begin deploying tactical nuclear weapons there, and a group of pro-Ukrainian fighters from Russia has attacked sites in the Russian region of Belgorod using what appears to be U.S.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday led a group of senators in urging the Pentagon to investigate price gouging by military contractors after a CBS News probe that aired on “60 Minutes” earlier this week confirmed that private corporations are drastically overcharging the Defense Department for weaponry and other equipment, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in excess taxpayer spending and...

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In the Blindman’s Buff variation of tag, a child designated as “It” is tasked with tapping another child while wearing a blindfold. The sightless child knows the other children, all able to see, are there but is left to stumble around, using sounds and knowledge of the space they’re in as guides. Finally, that child does succeed, either by bumping into someone, peeking, or thanks to sheer dumb...

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A Florida school district has restricted student access to a poem written by a Black poet for the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January 2021. Amanda Gorman recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” two years ago at the most recent presidential inauguration. Gorman’s poem largely centered on the work yet to be done in the United States to achieve equity and justice for all.

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A staggering majority of the U.S. federal discretionary budget went toward so-called defense and other militaristic and carceral programs in the past year, a new report reveals, as U.S. defense spending continues to reach new heights. According to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) released on Wednesday, the U.S. spent $1.1 trillion of the discretionary budget on militarism and...

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The rise of organized attempts to censor school curricula and materials available in school libraries is proving to be a fertile training ground for a new generation of student activists. Facing the removal of books about LGBTQ+ and BIPOC experiences, students are demanding the right to read in schools across the country. Nowhere is this truer than in Texas, a state where equal access to a range...

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The Biden administration has put a pause on plans to erect a copper mine in Arizona on land known as Oak Flat, a site sacred to the San Carlos Apache and other Indigenous nations in the area. The U.S. Forest Service has told a federal court it is not sure when an environmental impact statement could be approved, an action which would set off the land swap allowing Resolution Copper...

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Between 2000 and 2020, an estimated 482,000 primates were imported into the U.S. to be experimented on in testing laboratories. All the while, pharmaceutical drug development has been mired in serious challenges, particularly during the animal-heavy research stages known as preclinical phases. Now, a series of supply chain disruptions have created a shortage of primates for laboratory testing use.

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Two House Democrats — Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington — faced backlash on Wednesday after voting for a GOP resolution that would repeal President Joe Biden’s student debt relief program, which is currently on hold as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a pair of deeply flawed legal challenges. The resolution, led by Rep. Bob Good (R-Virginia), aims to make use of a...

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The city of Davis, California, was recently shaken up following a spate of stabbings — three over the course of five days, beginning on April 27 — which left two dead and one severely injured. Davis is a small, affluent, college town where no one expects “bad” things to happen, even though they sometimes do. Due to that illusion of safety, it’s not uncommon to see children freely roaming...

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) has condemned Republicans’ brinkmanship with the quickly approaching debt limit after GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz (Florida) openly admitted on Tuesday that his party is approaching the issue as a “hostage” negotiation. Political commentators and lawmakers have long observed that the Republican Party’s strategy toward the debt ceiling — of demanding that Democrats...

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Clinic defense has been a crucial part of left-wing social movements since Roe v. Wade affirmed the constitutional right to abortion in in 1973. The effort to defend clinics against an increasingly violent anti-abortion movement was where incredibly broad coalitions could be built to unite various ideological tendencies behind one clear goal: blocking far right demonstrators to make the clinic...

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Are you worried about the rising political power of violent white nationalists in America? Well, you’ve got plenty of company, including U.S. national security and counterterrorism officials. And we’re worried, too — worried enough, in fact, to feel that it’s time to take a look at the experience of India, where Hindu supremacist dogma has increasingly been enforced through violent means.

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A bombshell new investigation from The Intercept reveals that former U.S. national security adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was responsible for even more civilian deaths during the U.S. war in Cambodia than was previously known. The revelations add to a violent résumé that ranges from Latin America to Southeast Asia, where Kissinger presided over brutal U.S.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his run for president any minute now, reportedly during a Twitter event with owner Elon Musk. DeSantis will enter the race as a frontrunner for the Republican nomination but still trailing behind former President Donald Trump, who is quick to boast about leading DeSantis in the polls. DeSantis will likely resurrect themes around “freedom” deployed...

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With the U.S. careening toward a default crisis that they manufactured, House Republicans are reportedly crafting a major tax cut package that would overwhelmingly benefit the rich and corporations while blowing a multitrillion-dollar hole in the federal deficit. The fresh push for tax cuts, according to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), further shows that “this hostage crisis has never been about...

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The rush in conservative states to ban abortion after the overturn of Roe v. Wade is resulting in a startling consequence that abortion opponents may not have considered: fewer medical services available for all women living in those states. Doctors are showing — through their words and actions — that they are reluctant to practice in places where making the best decision for a patient could...

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There are energy eventualities we know for certain. Coal production has been in decline for decades. Mines have been stripped of their underground deposits, meaning there’s simply less coal to dig out. Natural gas, long deemed coal’s competitor, is cheaper to produce. We know that one potential solution for climate change is wind- and solar-generated electric power that doesn’t require the...

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