On Wednesday, Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) reintroduced the LGBT Data Inclusion Act, which would require federal surveys to include gender identity and sexual orientation to better address LGBTQ people’s needs.
The legislation also requires that agencies publishing reports on survey demographic data include information on sexual orientation and gender identity. The changes would go a long way in helping the LGBTQ community receive more funding and...
ThinkProgress
Heading into the debates, what do progressive voters want to hear from the candidates?
Tonight, 10 Democratic presidential candidates will appear on stage for the first of several debates stretching from now until well into next year. With more than 20 candidates officially vying for the party’s nomination — welcome Joe Sestak, who entered the fray just this week — the “first” debate is actually split across two nights this week, with another 10 candidates fielding questions on Thursday.
For many voters, this week’s debates will be their first encounter with the most ...
Trump’s executive order aims to tell patients how expensive health care is. But that’s all it does.
The thinking behind President Donald Trump’s executive order on Monday is that more transparency around health care costs will benefit patients. That sounds sensible but, as various experts cautioned, the details matter.
The White House is tasking federal agencies with writing regulations that try to reveal a lot of information that isn’t readily available, like how much insurers pay hospitals for services and how much patients will pay out of pocket before being treated...
The New York Times’ disastrously empty rape apology
The Grey Lady finally admitted that it is capable of making big editorial mistakes.
On Monday, the New York Times ran a piece which quotes its own executive editor, Dean Baquet, admitting that the paper was wrong to underplay the latest rape allegation against President Donald Trump. “We were overly cautious,” says Baquet.
On Friday, New York Magazine ran an excerpt of writer E. Jean Carroll’s memoir, in which Carroll accuses Trump of holding her against the...
The 2020 candidates finally had to answer activists’ questions about abortion. Here’s what they said
Reproductive freedom activists have long wanted a forum dedicated to abortion. On Saturday, they got one.
Planned Parenthood hosted 20 Democrats running for president at the University of South Carolina, where activists questioned candidates about their record and vision on the issue. During the day-long event, candidates demonstrated their understanding of abortion — whether they view it as health care and understand that it intersects with identities like gender and class.
Senate votes to confirm man with anti-LGBTQ rights record for lifetime federal judgeship
On Wednesday, the Senate voted 52-46 to confirm as federal judge a man with a record opposing LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights. Matthew Kacsmaryk will sit on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. It is a lifetime federal judgeship.
Before his confirmation, 75 LGBTQ and allied groups signed a letter addressed to Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), ranking member of the committee, in opposition...
30,000 poor elderly, people with disabilities to lose Medicaid coverage in Georgia
Georgia state officials said Tuesday that 30,000 residents will lose their Medicaid coverage for failing to respond to renewal notices. But lawyers of many of the recipients affected say their clients were dropped from coverage without ever having received those notices.
The state Department of Community Health (DCH) had initially reported in early June that 17,000 poor elderly or people with disabilities, who are “dual eligibles” also receiving Medicare benefits, would lose their M...
Joe Biden’s ignorance of Southern history could screw up his presidency
Oh, bless your heart, Joe Biden.
Joe Biden invoked two segregationist senators, James Eastland and Herman Talmadge, as he fondly recalled the “civility” of the Senate in the '70s and '80s https://t.co/DGJyIle7dH
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) June 19, 2019
There’s something inherently destructive about a politics that preferences “civility” among powerful white senators over the humanity of African Americans, ...
Trump’s 2020 campaign kick-off was a parade of his favorite lies and dog whistles
President Donald Trump filed for reelection the day he was inaugurated and has held countless campaign rallies in the two and a half year since. On Tuesday night, he “officially” kicked off his 2020 campaign.
In a rambling speech in Orlando, Trump confirmed that this campaign will look quite similar to the last — in no small part because he spoke as if he was still campaigning against his former rival, Hillary Clinton.
“The only collusion was committed by th...
What single-payer activists make of polls showing voters don’t understand Medicare for All
Recent polls showing voters do not understand Medicare for All have received a lot of attention. But activists who’ve been working to educate the public on this issue for years aren’t surprised by the findings — and a closer look makes it clear people shouldn’t write off Medicare for All just yet.
The Kaiser Family Foundation released a poll on Tuesday showing voters don’t know defining features of Medicare for All — including some of the planR...