People are baffled by the surreal saga of George Santos, the bizarre Republican congress critter who is a bottomless sink... Read more...
Big news from Congressional Republicans: After years of failing to unearth any proof that America’s elections are corrupted by flagrant... Read more...
Sure enough, opportunists have rushed into America's local news void, sowing thousands of poisonous "imposter" news sites that churn out lies and partisan hackery in the guise of legitimate reporting. Read more...
Fascism – it’s a term we don’t use lightly. But when the overwhelming power of corporations over Congress and the... Read more...
Most intolerable is the steady drip-drip-drip of power it drains from America's democratic ideals and commitment to the Common Good. I can't say that Abbott and DeSantis are the worst that the GOP will try to put in the White House in 2024, but either one is a signpost of an increasingly assertive American fascism. Read more...
You've probably never heard of Leonard Leo, but this obscure, far-right ideologue is a major capo in the tight little world of the anti-democracy extremists who hold an iron grip on today's Republican leadership. Read more...
Today’s six-member GOP majority has surrendered all claim to being an impartial force for justice. Instead, the GOP’s network of corporate and right-wing operatives has fabricated and weaponized the court to increase their power over the rest of us. Read more...
Sometimes, when watching Congress in action, I can’t decide whether to laugh, cry, or check myself into an insane asylum.... Read more...
Breaking news: “Trump says Pentagon Budget Too Big.” Follow-up report: “Pentagon Agrees.” This unexpected budgetary breakthrough comes because Donald The... Read more...
“Far-flung” doesn’t describe America’s war reach. Our military personnel, technology, and taxpayers’ money are in so many places that the... Read more...
Our fearless "leader," who cravenly got his rich daddy to help him dodge actual war during the Vietnam era, is now up on his high horse--in comic Napoleonic pose-- demanding that the Pentagon, Congress, and we taxpayers set up another military bureaucracy for sending future youngsters to war: Space Force. Read more...
In these sultry, dog days of August, the Lowdown presents a summer picnic of political snacks, meaty developments, both sweet and sour sides, and--of course--some mixed nuts. Read more...
Global trade deals are and always have been large-scale hustles, filled with hypocrisy, deceit, and greed. Promoted as fair and good for all, they're invariably rigged with profiteering schemes that lock into law advantages for corporations over the common good of consumers, the environment, labor, independent businesses, governments, and all other democratic forces. The USMCA is no different-- and is, in fact, worse. Read more...
Time flies when you're having fun, so those of us who merrily pull together this little newsletter each month were surprised recently when it dawned on us that--Holy Moly!--we've reached a milestone of populist pamphleteering: The 20th anniversary of The Lowdown. This retrospective issue is meant to be a contemplation on the progressive movement itself--what it's up against and how far it has progressed in these two decades. Read more...
Since the middle of the last century, greedy schemers have mounted a sneaky, slow motion coup of attrition, moving methodically from one political venue to another, donning multiple organizational guises to strike down a law here, reverse a public policy there, demonize "others," and ambush progressive groups all along the way. Its chief instigators are the multibillionaire Koch boys, Charles and David, who've been consistently financing and implementing this ongoing assault since the 1960s. Read more...
We the People are being burgled. Again. The most recent hit is just the latest in a long string of political robberies, a nationwide crime wave being pulled off by moneyed elites and their political henchmen. Read more...
Being a muckraking political writer often makes me feel like a custodian in a horse barn, constantly shoveling manure. It’s... Read more...
You might expect such liberal bastions as Boston, Madison, Boulder, and San Francisco to call for an end to corporate... Read more...
In order of the date of passage, here are the 16 states that have already petitioned Congress to let their... Read more...
So many absurdities abound in our lives that there’s a whole body of philosophical thought called “absurdism,” as well as... Read more...
Rube Goldberg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist of the last century, was famous for drawings of what he called “inventions” –complicated... Read more...
To see how easy it is for millions of innocent citizens to get caught up in NSA’s vast electronic web,... Read more...
If you’ve never seen a pack of pompous state legislators fall into a panic, you’ve missed a scene of... Read more...
Some of you might remember “CREEP” from 1972’s Nixon-McGovern matchup. It could’ve been an apt code name for Tricky Dick himself,... Read more...