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For decades, the technology industry was a fortress that labor unions couldn’t breach. Tech workers already had cushy compensation packages, dream benefits like unlimited vacation and free lunch, and a flat corporate hierarchy that made engineers feel as powerful as their bosses, all of whom dressed down in sneakers and hoodies. So why unionize? Now, [...]

Day in and day out, it is the likes of Germany’s conservative parties, and the Republicans at home, who are assaulting LGBTQ+ rights. The post The Right Seeks to Capitalize on Berlin Pride Attack — Even as It Poses Its Own Existential Threat to Queer Lives appeared first on The Intercept.

Cash bail, mandatory minimums, incarcerating children as adults—the Trump-led GOP is destroying decades of criminal justice reforms for “tough on crime” policies that are not only cruel but objectively don’t work.

President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” has barely made a dent with American voters, which doesn’t bode well for Republicans in the midterms. Almost half of all Americans either can’t explain what it is or have not heard of it, according to a new Politico poll. Those who have heard about it don’t like it, saying that it benefited other people, like wealthy Americans.With affordability a major political issue, Republicans have tried to rebrand the bill, which doled out tax cuts for rich Americans at the expense of programs like health care, as “Working Families Tax Cuts,” without much success.“Putting more money in Americans’ pockets. Helping them seize opportunities to get ahead, and creating new pathways to success,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday on the Senate floor. “That is the Working Families Tax Cuts at work.”Only about 25 percent of people who voted for Trump in 2024 believe that the bill gave the working class big tax breaks. The fact that the bill included tax deductions for tipped wages and overtime pay, as well as Trump Accounts for children, hasn’t swayed opinions. Meanwhile, more than half of Americans—57 percent—believe the Iran war has made things more expensive, according to the poll. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has had ripple effects affecting everything from gas prices to fertilizer shortages, hurting farmers along with average Americans. Trump hasn’t done much to defend or even mention the bill in his regular speeches, either. This has opened the bill up to attacks from Democrats, who merely have to point to bad economic news to discredit any potential gains. Democratic candidates have also rightfully connected the tax cuts to cuts to food stamps, Medicare, and Medicaid. Politico’s poll found that many Americans say they prefer funding health care and nutrition assistance over some tax breaks. Trump is not doing much to address that sentiment, dismissing affordability as a made-up word and opposing a bipartisan affordable housing bill last week.  “Trump cuts food assistance and health care. Billionaires get another tax break,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor last week. That seems to be a winning message for November’s midterms for Democrats. 

Senator Mitch McConnell’s office has finally addressed the lawmaker’s ongoing absence—insofar as it relates to his ability to chow down on some red meat at Kentucky’s annual Fancy Farm picnic.“There’s no place I’d rather be on the first Saturday in August than with the good people of western Kentucky, feasting on pork and mutton,” his office wrote in a statement Monday to the Bluegrass State’s Hellbender Newsroom. “When I first attended forty-two years ago, Fancy Farm was a pretty lonely place to be a Republican. But, my, how times have changed. Today, western Kentucky is a conservative Republican sea of red.“So I hate that I’ll miss the fun this year, but I’m sending my best wishes to the St. Jerome community for a successful picnic,” the message ended.His team also released a new photo of McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao.The Kentucky senator has been missing in action for more than a month after he was found unconscious in his Washington residence and rushed to the hospital on June 14. For weeks, McConnell’s office has refused to explain his extended hospitalization or elaborate on his eventual return to Capitol Hill. The media blackout briefly ended on July 12, when the senator’s office shared a photo of McConnell sitting upright in a chair beside his wife, holding a copy of that day’s Washington Post sports section in his lap.A statement released by his office alongside the image, written in the first person so as to suggest it was penned by McConnell himself, specified that while the 84-year-old had not broken bones, suffered a concussion, or had a heart attack or stroke, he had dealt with a “mild case of pneumonia” during his time in the hospital.He did not offer a projection for when he might return to work, noting that he moved to a rehabilitation facility and is still “working closely” with legislative staff.McConnell’s team has not provided any further explanation or evidence supporting McConnell’s improving health condition in the weeks since, despite demands from his constituents and local lawmakers.On Saturday, West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito told independent journalist Nicholas Ballasy that she had spoken to someone the day before who visited McConnell and said that “he’s clear-minded, and he just needs to get stronger.”