Civilian Casualties Are Skyrocketing in Afghanistan. The CIA Is Partly to Blame.
Afghan policemen display their skills at a police training center on the outskirts of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province.Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty This week brought more grim news from the US war in Afghanistan, which is now in its 19th year. The United Nations reported a 42 percent increase in civilian deaths in July-September compared to the same…
Obamacare Premiums Are Down and Consumer Choice Is Up
Tomek_Pa/Shutterstock With Obamacare open enrollment starting November 1, people looking to buy health insurance can expect lower premiums and a greater selection of insurers to choose from overall. Despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to curtail the Affordable Care Act—and a lawsuit that threatens the future of Obamacare—the 2020 market shows signs of increasing stability. While…
Mississippi Governor’s Race Could Be Decided by Jim Crow-Era Provision
Democratic State Attorney General Jim Hood, left, and Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves during a gubernatorial debate on October 10. Rogelio V. Solis/AP A tight governor’s race in Mississippi next Tuesday could come down to an obscure 19th-century state provision designed to keep power in the hands of white voters. But now a federal court…
Elizabeth Warren Presents Her Plan to Pay for M4A
Elizabeth Warren is finally out with her detailed Medicare For All Plan. It is, as near as I can tell, the most complete plan in the known world, paying literally 100 percent of all health care expenses. That means medical, dental, vision, and mental; and it means no premiums, no copays, and no deductibles. No…
Fossil Fuel Use in Southeast Asia Is Projected to Increase 60% By 2040
American conservatives are fond of saying that we should stop worrying so much about carbon emissions in the US. The real problem is carbon emissions in places like China and India, which are growing faster than ours and, in China’s case, already much higher. The motivation for this attitude is obvious: conservatives don’t want to…
Black Reading Scores Plummet in 2019 Testing
The latest NAEP scores are out for 4th and 8th graders. For 8th graders, they show that the average reading score dropped three points and the average math score dropped one point over the past two years. Obviously that’s not good news, but these are small changes on a single test and it’s hard to…