Nation in the News

John Nichols: How Saturday Mail Was Saved From Austerity

Nation in the News on April 12, 2013 - 5:56 PM ET

Try as the austerity-mongers did to take it away, you'll still get your mail on Saturdays. What does this victory mean for the future of public services in America? "Union members and people in the community—community activists—organized and rallied over the last two months across this country," Nation writer John Nichols says. "The lesson here when we talk about chained-CPI, when we talk about any of these other fights, is, we can beat them." Nichols joins Wisconsin Representative Mark Pocan on The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann (15 minutes into the above clip) to round up the winners, losers and lessons from the fight.

—James Cersonsky

Sharif Abdel Kouddous: Report on Army Killings Will Pressure Egypt's Government to Prosecute

Nation in the News on April 11, 2013 - 5:46 PM ET

A new report in Egypt reveals that army personnel participated in the forced disappearance, torture and killing of protestors during the 2011 uprising. Although most Egyptians are only too aware of these crimes, the report is significant in that it comes from President Mohamed Morsi's own handpicked commission, Nation contributor Sharif Abdel Kouddous told Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez on Democracy Now!

"It puts pressure on the government to put the army officers on trial," Kouddous said.

Laura Flanders: Like Reagan, Thatcher Supported Hypocritical Policies at Home and Abroad

Nation in the News on April 10, 2013 - 5:40 PM ET

As the mainstream media pens paeans to Margaret Thatcher, progressives have tried to question her true political legacy. Nation contributor Laura Flanders brings a critical perspective—formed by her own reporting from Northern Ireland, the Liverpool riots and the UK miners' strike—to an episode of Forum with Michael Krasny on KQED that also features a Thatcher specialist and a Hoover Institution fellow.

"I don't think most of the world is that bothered about whether the relationship between Reagan and Thatcher was close, very close or really, really, really close," Flanders says during a discussion of the ties between the two leaders. "I think most of the world is concerned about the relationship both of them had with torturers and human rights abusers around the globe."

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John Nichols: Democrats Will Break With Obama on Social Security Cuts

Nation in the News on April 10, 2013 - 12:12 PM ET

Barack Obama will unveil a budget proposal today that the White House has described as its final deficit reduction offer to recalcitrant Republicans. But members of Obama's own party are already protesting the chained-CPI social security cut expected in the budget: Bernie Sanders led a rally outside the White House, 107 members of congress signed a letter urging Obama to reconsider and some 30 members of congress are actively opposing the measure.

The public hostility toward chained-CPI adjustment to cost-of-living increases will pressure more Democrats to break with Obama on this issue, Nation Washington correspondent John Nichols told Tamron Hall on MSNBC's NewsNation.

Media, Activism and Sports: The Nation at the National Conference for Media Reform

Nation in the News on April 10, 2013 - 10:48 AM ET

What is "independent media," and why is it so important? Free Speech TV interviewed a handful of Nation writers at this past weekend's National Conference for Media Reform about their personal projects and what's missing in political discourse as we know it.

Dave Zirin: When Will Homophobia in Big-Money Sports End?

Nation in the News on April 9, 2013 - 5:27 PM ET

How do the homophobic slurs of now-former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice fit into the culture of big-money sports? "If you're a kid in this prep-to-pro, ruthless, privatized, professionalized youth sports so-called amateur industry in the United States," says Nation writer Dave Zirin, "at best you'll be lucky and get a benevolent dictator, and at worst you'll get someone like Mike Rice." Zirin speaks on Sojourner Truth Radio (42 minutes into the above recording) about the industry propping up Rice's behavior, and what it's going to take to turn the tide.

—James Cersonsky

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Social Security Cuts Punish Main Street for Wall Street's Crimes

Nation in the News on April 5, 2013 - 3:37 PM ET

In his budget plan next week, President Barack Obama is expected to propose a new inflation formula that would reduce cost-of-living payments for social security benefits. This proposal would punish average Americans for the financial woes brought on by risky investment practices and too-big-to-fail banks, charging them for a prosperity they never really shared in, said Katrina vanden Heuvel on C-SPAN's Washington Journal on Friday.

Vanden Heuvel touched on a wide range of issues, from social security to immigration to campaign finance. She said that the social security cut is just the latest victim of a "misplaced obsession with debt and deficits."

Live From the National Conference for Media Reform

Nation in the News on April 5, 2013 - 1:31 PM ET

This Friday through Sunday, activists and media-makers will converge on Denver, Colorado, for the 2013 National Conference for Media Reform. Follow this live feed, courtesy of Free Speech TV, for footage of Aura Bogado, Dave Zirin and more Nation writers. (Check out the full list of presenters here.)

—James Cersonsky

Ryan Devereaux: Just How Important Is New York's Stop-and-Frisk Trial?

Nation in the News on April 5, 2013 - 1:05 PM ET

Of the NYPD's 5 million stops-and-frisks over the last 3 years, more than three quarters have targeted black and Latino people—a reality attested to during the federal lawsuit Floyd v. City of New York, currently underway. "It's important to remember that we're talking about the largest police department in the country and how they deal with young men of color, on a regular basis, on a day-to-day basis," says Nation contributor Ryan Devereaux. "You travel to different neighborhoods around New York City, and you hear the same sorts of stories over and over again." Devereaux joins a panel on Democracy Now! to discuss the realities of stop-and-frisk and the evidence against its legality.

—James Cersonsky

Greg Kaufmann: The Real 'Welfare Queens'

Nation in the News on April 1, 2013 - 12:53 PM ET

States are giving unprecedented tax breaks to corporations—but unlike welfare recipients, Nation writer Greg Kaufmann says, "nobody's talking about drug-testing them." Kaufmann joins a panel on The Melissa Harris-Perry Show to break down the hypocrisies of government largesse. "We would like to think that for all these tax breaks, we'd be seeing some good jobs created," he says. Instead, one in three Americans is languishing below twice the poverty line.

—James Cersonsky