Evening Roundup, October 29
Featuring Esosa Osa and Kam Middlebrooks; Ari Berman with Jen Rubin; Jeff Nesbit; Steve Vladeck; Jennifer Weiss-Wolf; Josh Levs; Michael Franklin; and Nick Anderson
The Cost of Silence: The Erasure of Black Progress Threatens Our Democracy
We all pay the price in lost freedom, diminished democracy, and weakened civic trust.
By Esosa Osa and Kam Middlebrooks
Republicans are Rigging Maps for More Congressional Seats. Ari Berman Explains Their Redistricting Strategy
Gerrymandering is accelerating across the country with Republicans aggressively redrawing congressional districts to increase their political power. Republicans are set on dismantling fair representation, with a huge focus on majority Black districts in the South. Not only are minority communities at risk of losing the ability to elect preferred represe…
87 days: The do-nothing Congress’s shutdown strategy
By Jeff Nesbit
This historic level of inaction is not an accident, a bug, or a well-deserved vacation.
Don't Lose Hope: Steve Vladeck On Why the Trump Administration Is Always In Court
The Trump administration’s orders to deploy National Guard to cities led by Democrats continue to hit legal hurdles. Two cities—Portland and Chicago—have found themselves at the epicenter of this struggle and are now fighting the administration in court over these deployments. Steve Vladeck, legal expert and Georgetown Law professor, joins Jen to dissect…
The Trump regime is turning its back on more than 40 million hungry Americans
When we turn back the clocks this weekend, the Trump administration will simultaneously turn its back on nearly 42 million people in this country—those who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to make a warm, healthy meal.
Media failure broke the White House renovation story—and America
The story of the White House renovation isn’t just about President Donald Trump remaking part of “The People’s House.” It’s a powerful example of how media failures have left Americans in the dark.
The Young Republicans chat echoes the Citizens Councils of the 1950s and 60s
When the leaked Young Republicans group chat surfaced—filled with tasteless and gross comments—the reaction was swift, but to me the shock was misplaced. As a Gen Zer who’s spent years online, I’ve seen this up close—the same rot has passed for humor in comment sections or in Xbox gaming servers my whole life. The nastin…
Don’t call us fascists
Nick Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist whose cartoons have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere. Find him on Substack at nickanderson.substack.com.
For a special Halloween installment, we’re compiling a collection of pets in costumes. Paid subscribers, please send photos of your decked-out dogs and costumed cats (and any other pet!) to submit@contrariannews.org by noon ET on 10/31. Please put “Halloween pet” in the subject line.
Not a subscriber yet? Please join our growing community while helping support independent media and litigation against Trump’s chaos:
"Avarice, ambition or revenge...wopuld breas the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net." John Adams
"We can have Democracy, oct we can have large sums of wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we can't have both". Justice Louis Brandeis
The Brandeis quote highlights that the Democratic congressional leadership is weak on courage, weak on heart and weak on brains. Why dont they highlight the crusal issues like not feeding children and constant lying and continual corruption that the teapot dome folks didn't' dream of. The issues are clear cut, the democrats leadership doesn't exist, dispute the talent in the party.
If Jeffries and Gillibrand and Schumer cant enthusiastically the candidate who won the primary, they should step aside and let real leadership take over. They don't even attack the lies about Mamdani being communist. We all vowed that McCarthyism would never return, and yet when it did, th Democrats wee checking polls to prove why they should sty silent.
When the white house is destroyed, why didnt our leadership go bonkers? When cities are being invaded, where are they.
There are 3 reasons trump is taking power. The congress has decided to look away like their ancestors in Weimar did, The Supreme Court did citizens united, repealed the voting rights act, was demolished.and The congress has forgotten why the were the 1st branch in the constitution .
The Democrats have forgotten what opposition parties do,
As Lord Burke said, For evil to succeed, good men have only to be silent.