See live results from the 2026 South Carolina House primary election as Republican and Democrat votes are counted by candidate and county. Read original article: Read More
GSK says AI is reshaping drug pipeline as Nuvalent deal hits shares | FirstWord Pharma
… acquisition of the US biopharmaceutical firm Nuvalent. The firm is using generative AI to scan internal and external data to tailor treatments and …
LIVE: U.S. Strategy for hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup | FOX 10 Phoenix – YouTube
The Atlantic Council hosts an exclusive discussion on the United States’ key strategic priorities for hosting the historic 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Jason Calacanis: The Silicon Valley Vibes Are Still Pro-Trump
Trump’s approval rating may be near record lows, but tech tycoons and powerhouse CEOs are still all-in with bending the knee to Trump and bearing him gifts. Read original article: Read More
Teen Pride Graphic Novels
Here are some fantastic new stories to enjoy during Pride, all lushly illustrated. MS = middle school In Balazs Lorinczi’s book A Bite of Pepper, a skateboarding vampire falls for a human artist whose attraction to her might be enough to make her commit to turning this human into a vampire and becoming immortal herself. Dan in Green Gables, by Ray Terciero, follows a queer teen in Read original article: Read More
What Happens If We Detect Aliens? The Official Playbook Just Changed In First Major Update In 16 Years – IFLScience
Space and Physics
PUBLISHED Yesterday
Global “Post-Detection Protocols” For Disclosing Alien Life Just Got Their First Major Update In 16 Years – “No Reply Should Be Sent”
Updated SETI protocols continue to prohibit any response to a detected extraterrestrial signal, until international consultations take place.
By James Felton, Senior Staff Writer
James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary. View full profile
Edited by Katy Evans
The “post-detection protocols” for announcing the discovery and existence of alien life have just had their first major update in 16 years, though the all-important “no reply” rule remains in place.
The universe is a pretty big place, and humans have only recently begun scouring it for signs of other intelligent lifeforms. While so far all we have heard is a great and eerie silence, there remains the chance that as our telescopes and understanding of the universe improve, we may one day find what we are looking for; signs of an alien intelligence, out there in the cosmos.
What should we do about it if we were to detect such a sign, be it a directed signal from a technological species, or telltale bio signatures on a distant exoplanet? What steps should scientists take next?
“We do not shout ‘alien’ the moment we see a strange blip”
These are questions that the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the broader search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) institute have put their minds to, first creating the “Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence” in 1989. These guidelines lay out what scientists should do at each stage of a detection, including how these findings should be communicated to the public. That latter task has gotten more difficult in recent years, and it was this area that had the greatest overhaul in the new 2026 update.
“The information environment we operate in today is vastly more complex than it was in 2010,” Professor Michael Garrett, Chair of the IAA SETI Committee and professor of astrophysics at the University of Manchester, explained in a statement.
“In an era of deepfakes, automated misinformation, and instant global connectivity, unverified claims could trigger confusion or panic. These new protocols guide SETI scientists in maintaining the highest standards of evidence before making announcements to the world.”
The guidance states that safeguards should be established for scientists involved in potential detections, who may face harassment or doxxing due to their involvement. Meanwhile, they establish the need to manage “viral” rumors about detections and potential detections, and the complex task of distinguishing the truth from potential hoaxes.
Overall the guidelines remain roughly the same, adhering to Carl Sagan’s principle that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” The first step, as with previous guidance, is to verify any candidate detection of alien life and to seek independent examination of evidence by other organizations, preferably using other methods and instruments.
“We do not shout ‘alien’ the moment we see a strange blip,” Garrett added. “The scientific method demands we check, check again, and then ask others to check. Only when we have reached a consensus that a signal is credible do we bring it to the world.”
Nevertheless, these updated guidelines are not as prohibitory as the previous iteration, released before the rise of social media, in 2010. In the update, it is explained that scientists have no obligation to disclose verification efforts until a discovery is made, including through the media, and on social media. However, scientists should make use of these channels and respond to reasonable requests, the guidance states, though they should clearly identify speculative or unconfirmed conclusions as such.
“If a candidate technosignature is discovered, communication about ongoing observations and analyses may be necessary to dispel rumors and provide accurate and reliable information,” the declaration states. “Similarly, if analysis determines that a previously reported candidate technosignature is not extraterrestrial in origin, this should be promptly disclosed and clearly communicated.”
When a verification is made, the scientists involved are then obliged to report their discovery promptly “in a full, complete and open manner to the public, the scientific community, and the Secretary General of the United Nations.”
Scientists should also take steps to protect the evidence of a detection, according to the updated guidelines. This could be in the form of protecting certain frequencies, for example, if the evidence came in the form of an electromagnetic signal.
Read more: What Happens If We Detect Aliens? The Official Playbook Just Changed In First Major Update In 16 Years – IFLScienceContinue/Read Original Article: What Happens If We Detect Aliens? The Official Playbook Just Changed In First Major Update In 16 Years | IFLScience
House votes to take over librarian of Congress appointment power – Roll Call
Congress
House votes to take over librarian of Congress appointment power
Bill would also split off hiring of copyright office head, giving the president control
By Nina Heller, Posted June 8, 2026 at 4:32pm
House lawmakers passed a bill Monday aimed at preventing future executive branch interference in some legislative branch agencies, a year after President Donald Trump fired the librarian of Congress.
It would allow House and Senate leaders to appoint the heads of both the Library of Congress and the Government Publishing Office, removing that power from the president.
But the president would get new appointment authority over another role, the register of copyrights. Historically part of the Library of Congress, the Copyright Office has long drawn debate over its proper place.
The bill was passed by a voice vote. Now it heads to the Senate, where it would need enough bipartisan support to overcome a filibuster.
“At its core, this bill is about ensuring that agencies of the legislative branch are governed in a manner consistent with our constitutional system, improving continuity in leadership and strengthening congressional oversight,” Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., the lead sponsor, said on the floor Monday.
While the firing of Librarian Carla Hayden put the issue in the spotlight last year, Griffith said he was taking a longer view.
“I feel like doing that disclaimer at the end of a movie: This has nothing to do with any current or former librarians of Congress, or any current or former members of the White House,” he said at a House Administration Committee markup last month.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have sought to change how heads of legislative branch agencies are hired and fired. In 2023, lawmakers approved a change that revoked the president’s power to appoint the architect of the Capitol, transferring that authority to Congress instead.
And in 2017, Virginia Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte, who was then chair of the House Judiciary Committee, proposed allowing the president to appoint the register of copyrights with input from a congressional panel and with the advice and consent of the Senate. In the past, the librarian of Congress has picked the head of the Copyright Office. That bill passed the House but stalled in the other chamber.
Proponents of splitting off the copyright office from the Library of Congress say it’s the right approach because much of its work is executive in nature. The office both advises Congress on intellectual property issues and administers copyright laws.
Goodlatte has remained engaged with the issue since leaving Congress and has lobbied on behalf of the Walt Disney Company around Griffith’s bill, according to disclosures.
But not everyone is happy with the proposal, with some arguing it could potentially politicize copyright and artificial intelligence governance issues. After Trump ousted Hayden last May, he also moved to fire Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter, shortly after her office published a draft report warning about AI models being trained on copyrighted materials and the effects on fair use law. Perlmutter has challenged her firing in court.
A number of technology, library and public interest groups have come out against the bill and its plan for the copyright office, saying it “threatens to upend a system that has protected and supported American creativity and ingenuity for centuries.”
“Maintaining institutional unity through challenges such as emerging AI policy and DMCA rulemakings is vital to ensuring copyright evolution remains balanced, accessible, and ready to support the next generation of creators and tech innovators,” Brandon Butler, executive director of the Re:Create Coalition, said in a statement Monday.
The coalition, which includes groups like the American Library Association and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, had previously written a letter to House Administration Committee members criticizing a lack of hearings on the topic.
Read more: House votes to take over librarian of Congress appointment power – Roll CallContinue/Read Original Article: House votes to take over librarian of Congress appointment power – Roll Call
Jonesboro library launches free book delivery program – KAIT
Homebound Jonesboro residents can now receive free book deliveries from the public library. Read original article: Read More
“Burning Down The House” – David Byrne feat. Stephen Colbert (LIVE on The Late Show) – YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
Editor’s Note: I watched the final The Late Show episode from my TiVDo, and the final music act was great.. CBS, in the censorship game, removes him from the show, cancelled it. –DrWeb
Original Source: “Burning Down The House” – David Byrne feat. Stephen Colbert (LIVE on The Late Show) – YouTube
Bari Weiss & co put the BS in CBS – Democracy Docket
Bari Weiss & co put the BS in CBS
By Brian Tyler Cohen, June 4, 2026
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 07: Journalist Scott Pelley speaks onstage at the annual Freedom Award Benefit hosted by the International Rescue Committee at The Waldorf-Astoria on November 7, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano / Getty Images for IRC)
This administration’s assault on the media has been relentless. I’d like to say it’s also shocking in the sheer scale of it, but honestly, I’m not surprised. Since Day One of Trump’s second term, he’s been demanding that media companies pay him tens of millions of dollars (Paramount, ABC, Disney), and demanding the firing of late-night hosts who hurt his feelings. These were all red flags. But Scott Pelley’s firing from “60 Minutes” this week is the one that stopped me cold.
Pelley was terminated Tuesday after confronting new executive producer Nick Bilton — a man with, in Pelley’s words, “slender” qualifications for the job — about the recent firings of longtime “60 Minutes” producers. When Pelley met with Bari Weiss and Bilton and asked for answers, they stonewalled him for ten minutes. He was fired the next day. Bilton’s termination letter claimed Pelley had “hijacked” a staff meeting. Pelley called Weiss’ public account of their falling out “disingenuous.”
This is what the end of an institution looks like. Weiss was installed at CBS News as a compliant mouthpiece for the Trump-allied Ellisons, who bought Paramount and now need government approval for a merger that would also hand them control of CNN. Government collaborators are on the verge of controlling a massive share of American news, and they’re pushing out the journalists who won’t play along. First, Anderson Cooper walked away, then came the firings of Tanya Simon, Cecilia Vega, Sharyn Alfonsi and now Pelley. The institutional knowledge lost in the brain drain will irreparably damage an American institution.
I wrote about this in my book, “The Day After,” putting it in the full historical context it deserves. This is an exclusive excerpt.
Under Trump’s second coming, the Foxification of the media has accelerated. Media companies are not just acquiescing to Trump’s coercion; they are actively turning themselves into a pale imitation of a Roger Ailes creation.
The leader of the pack is Skydance Media, which in August 2025 bought Paramount in an $8 billion deal that includes the movie studios, the CBS broadcast network, and Paramount’s cable channels such as Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. The deal sailed through the FCC approval process because Brendan Carr had already shaken down his targets.
In particular, he was ready to take his metaphorical baseball bat to CBS News because of a discrepancy between two edits of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris in the final weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign. The difference between the two interviews was microscopic. But it was all Trump needed to claim that he’d been the victim of a great media conspiracy. Even less than the ABC News error, the CBS News edit was barely worthy of a clarification, never mind a correction. The slim pickings didn’t deter Trump from filing a $20 billion lawsuit — that’s billion with a b — against CBS and Paramount in October 2024.
Read more: Bari Weiss & co put the BS in CBS – Democracy DocketContinue/Read Original Article: Bari Weiss & co put the BS in CBS – Democracy Docket
Supporting Summer Reading at Libraries at H-E-B
Public Library Public Opinion Poll Results · Legislative Priorities · Texas … In this month’s… Read original article: Read More
Amarillo Public Library partners with Amarillo Public Health for mobile vaccinations – KFDA
Amarillo Public Library is partnering with the City of Amarillo Public Health to provide access… Read original article: Read More
What Sank the Housatonic? Investigating a Civil War Mystery with Primary Sources
What led to the sinking of the USS Housatonic? By comparing eyewitness accounts with engineering designs, students can explore how new technologies reshape what is possible, and how difficult it can be to determine cause and effect. Read original article: Read More
‘This is actually taking a page out of the Communist Party playbook’: New White House proposal could deny scientists funding based on their political opinions
“It replaces expertise with political appointees, globally decouples the U.S. and completely guts our scientific ecosystem.” Read original article: Read More
Observations from the Hill: Preparing for the Oversight Landscape in the 120th Congress
Congressional investigations are designed as much for political effect as they are for legislative fact-finding. Few understand this better than … Read original article: Read More
Partner Emily Loeb Quoted in Semafor on Corporate Risk Ahead of Midterm Elections
Partner Emily Loeb was quoted in Semafor in an article examining how House Democrats plan to leverage a potential midterm election majority to … Read original article: Read More
Astronaut captures snake-like auroras from a SpaceX Dragon | Space photo of the day for June 9, 2026
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir captured a breathtaking view of auroras on Earth from orbit while sheltering with her fellow astronauts in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Read original article: Read More
Lit Hub Daily: June 9, 2026
How remaining unmarried allowed Muriel Spark’s “intellectual monster” to run free. | Lit Hub Biography Dave Eggers talks to Jane Ciabattari about writing a novel that understands visual artists (as a visual artist). | Lit Hub In Conversation Books by Read original article: Read More
Leo Strauss’s Natural Right and History (w/ Matt Dinan)
Pull up a chair and pour yourself a drink! For the third installment in our occasional series on important conservative books, or important books written by or embraced by conservatives, we take up Leo Strauss’s Natural Right and History, based on his 1949 Walgreen Lectures at the University of Chicago (where he taught for two decades) and published in 1953. To help us, we called on our friend Matt Dinan, a political theorist who’s associate professor in the Great Books Program at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick, Canada. If you’ve listened to previous episodes and wanted us to go deeper on Leo Strauss, the German-Jewish political philosopher who came to the United States after fleeing Nazism, “Straussianism,” and what they might have to do with American conservatism and our present political moment, here you go.
After offering some background on Strauss and the context of Natural Right and History’s publication, we discuss Strauss’s patriotic appeal to Americans in the book’s introduction, walk listeners through the chapters that follow (explaining what “natural right” is and why it’s paired with “history” in the title along the way), and close out by exploring Strauss’s ambiguous relationship to American conservatism—and more!
Sources:
Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (1953)
— On Tyranny (1963)
— Spinoza’s Critique of Religion (1965)
Harry V. Jaffa, Thomism and Aristotelianism: A Study of the Commentary by Thomas Aquinas on the Nicomachean Ethics (1952)
James W. Ceaser, “The American Context of Leo Strauss’s Natural Right and History,” Perspectives on Political Science, Spring 2008
Richard Velkley, Heidegger, Strauss, and the Premises of Philosophy: On Original Forgetting (2011)
— “On the Roots of Rationalism: Strauss’s ‘Natural Right and History’ as Response to Heidegger,” The Review of Politics, Spring 2008
…and don’t forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes! Read original article: Read More
New evidence confirms Edison’s idle line ignited Eaton fire, lawyers say
New surveillance footage and evidence from Southern California Edison confirms that a century-old, idle transmission line that the utility failed to remove ignited last year’s deadly Eaton fire, lawyers said in a court filing. Read original article: Read More
Santa Monica Mountains’ last steelhead trout survived the Palisades fire — and even had babies
Scientists feared the Santa Monica Mountains’ last endangered steelhead trout were wiped out by the Palisades fire. Then, they found them alive in Topanga Creek. Read original article: Read More
TRUMP CURSES KNICKS
The post TRUMP CURSES KNICKS appeared first on Crooked Media. Read original article: Read More
Maine Votes as Graham Platner’s Past Poses New Conundrums
On Tuesday, Maine will vote in a high-stakes primary contest for a Senate seat that Democrats think they can win back from Republicans for the first time in decades. Democrats are pinning their hopes on Graham Platner, a progressive who has faced a string of scandals.
Today, Lisa Lerer and Katie Glueck discuss what this race means for Maine and for the prospects of the Democratic Party.
Guest:
Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.
Katie Glueck, a political reporter at The New York Times.
Background reading:
Several women who dated Mr. Platner recall “unsettling” behavior.
Politicians, officials and strategists have wrestled with how to respond to new reporting on Mr. Platner’s past behavior.
Photo: Amanda Sabga/Reuters
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. Read original article: Read More
Dave Eggers on Writing a Sprawling Novel of Art and Artists
Dave Eggers’s new novel, Contrapposto, transmits a deep understanding of the impulse to make art—to study, practice, commit to making art on a regular basis, to exhibit and sell your work (or your skills), collaborate with others in the art Read original article: Read More
An “Intellectual Monster…” Why Muriel Spark Never Married
High in the Tuscan hills, a light grilling is underway. “Sexually, probably, I could be faithful,” seventy-two-year-old Spark is in the middle of explaining, “though that’s not the point.” It is 1990, and Spark, sitting neatly in an armchair in Read original article: Read More
What’s in a Book’s Name? One Writer’s Journey to Finding the Perfect Title
For me, coming up with titles is always a team effort. Titling my first book, a quirky history of people who look for the Garden of Eden on Earth, had me stumped, until my friend the writer Josh Garrett-Davis suggested Read original article: Read More
Trump is ‘lustily booed’ in New York City attending NBA Finals
Donald Trump was roundly booed in New York City outside of Madison Square Garden on his way to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. Trump was booed again once he was spotted inside the venue. Rachel Maddow shares footage of the booing and remarks on the way Trump has arranged to benefit financially from his other sports preoccupation, a UFC fight on the White House grounds.
Rachel Maddow outlines Donald Trump’s desperation tactics to delegitimize elections in California, trying to convince his followers that a grand conspiracy is responsible for his electoral failures in that state and not the clear, obvious explanation that California just has more Democratic voters.
Jacob Soboroff, host of Connect on MS NOW, reports live from the L.A. County Ballot Processing Center to show exactly how the California voting process works, contrary to the misinformation of Donald Trump and his supporting media.
Rachel Maddow lists example after example of people or organizations giving large sums of money to Donald Trump’s interests and subsequently receiving some favorable treatment from Trump. The UFC fight on the White House lawn stands out as one of the more egregious examples, with Trump essentially giving himself a birthday present from the American people. Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, talks with Rachel about his lawsuit to stop Trump’s UFC event.
Rep. Joyce Beatty talks with Rachel Maddow about her role in defending the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from Donald Trump’s destructive force.
Want more of Rachel? Check out the “Rachel Maddow Presents” feed to listen to all of her chart-topping original podcasts.To listen to all of your favorite MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. Read original article: Read More
Used to be an avid reader? How to get back into books
In this distracted age, settling in and actually focusing on a book can feel like a challenge. But retraining your reading muscles is doable. In this episode, tips from writers, readers and researchers to help you accomplish your summer reading goals.
Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit
Sign up for our newsletter here.
Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at lifekit@npr.org
Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
Scoop: State Dept. accuses top U.S. foes of weaponized antisemitism – Axios
Why it matters: The report, which was transmitted to Congress on May 26, is likely to increase pressure on the Trump administration to treat attacks … Read original article: Read More
How a populist mayor from the British exurbs could remake England – POLITICO
By-elections — the British equivalent of a U.S. special election — are held when a member of Parliament resigns, dies or becomes enmeshed in … Read original article: Read More
Report: House Votes to Take Over Librarian of Congress Appointment Power
From Roll Call:
House lawmakers passed a bill Monday aimed at preventing future executive branch interference in some legislative branch agencies, a year after President Donald Trump fired the librarian of Congress.
It would allow House and Senate leaders to appoint the heads of both the Library of Congress and the Government Publishing Office, removing that power from the president.
But the president would get new appointment authority over another role, the register of copyrights. Historically part of the Library of Congress, the Copyright Office has long drawn debate over its proper place.
The bill was passed by a voice vote. Now it heads to the Senate, where it would need enough bipartisan support to overcome a filibuster.
Learn More, Read the Complete Aricle
See Also: Statement From Public Knowledge: Public Knowledge Condemns Trump Power Grab for Copyright Office
The post Report: House Votes to Take Over Librarian of Congress Appointment Power appeared first on Library Journal infoDOCKET.
Read original article: Read More
Donald Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee blocked by judge – Financial Times
Judge Leo Sorokin ordered Donald Trump’s proclamation sharply increasing the cost of the non-immigrant work visas must be rescinded. The Department of … Read original article: Read More
Japan to launch AI-run bioscience lab for 24-hour research – Nikkei Asia
… generative AI use · Anthropic and University of Tokyo partner to gauge generative AI use · Aerospace & Defense Industries · Mitsubishi Heavy to …
Justice Department moves to strip citizenship from 17 people in unprecedented … – CNN
Since President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration has doubled down on its denaturalization campaign, targeting foreign-born American … Read original article: Read More
Built by User: $250,000 NGO Software Procurements Are Dead – ICTworks
5 Generative AI Grant Writing Tools for Your Fundraising Proposals … Funding Research Report Seed Funding SMS Tanzania Technology Salon Uganda USAID …
ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee: Year in Review
Every committee chair has heard it: “It’s really not that much work!” This is the phrase we’re told when an outgoing chairperson is recruiting new committee leadership. Every incoming chairperson knows it’s a lie, but we tell ourselves it’s true when we say yes. This was certainly the case when my co-chair, Julia Nephew, and I agreed to take on the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee, but we didn’t anticipate the roller coaster of a year the committee would have! We started the year with a few basic goals- submit a program idea for the ALA Conference, write relevant posts for the ALSC blog that would highlight the importance of intellectual freedom for library staff serving children, and come up with a special project to benefit ALSC members. As a side note, the committee submitted a successful proposal for the ALA conference, and we invite you to join us on Sunday, June 28 at 9:00 for a session on Toxic Exclusion: Banned Authors Share How to Support…
The post ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee: Year in Review appeared first on ALSC Blog. Read original article: Read More
Trump Fuels False Election Claims as California Counts Ballots
President Trump says it’s rigged, Speaker Johnson says it’s diabolical, and Democrats say they’re delusional as the count is continuing nearly a week later in California.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Preparing Students to be AI-Ready in Banking | American Bankers Association
This session will explore how higher education and the banking industry are approaching AI adoption from both a classroom and workforce … Read original article: Read More
State board of education denies bid from rural Oklahoma district to expand to high school grades
… School, he had concerns the change would discourage Native American students from going to Sequoyah Schools, a nearby high performing boarding school. Read original article: Read More
Author Correction: De novo design of quasisymmetric two-component protein cages
Nature, Published online: 09 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10763-6Author Correction: De novo design of quasisymmetric two-component protein cages Read original aricle: Read More
Author Correction: A broadly protective antibody targeting gammaherpesvirus gB
Nature, Published online: 09 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10745-8Author Correction: A broadly protective antibody targeting gammaherpesvirus gB Read original aricle: Read More
Author Correction: PTC-bearing mRNA elicits a genetic compensation response via Upf3a and COMPASS components
Nature, Published online: 09 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10769-0Author Correction: PTC-bearing mRNA elicits a genetic compensation response via Upf3a and COMPASS components Read original aricle: Read More
Two Howard Payne University graduates pass ACE fitness certifications
School of Education · School of Education and Fine Arts · School of … American Council on Exercise (ACE) earlier this spring. Barganski … Read original article: Read More
Secretary Rubio to Participate in Signing Ceremony with Ultimate Fighting Championship
As an American-founded organization, the UFC has … Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Culture and Education Media Engagement Office … Read original article: Read More
Live Results: Maine midterm primaries | PBS News
Primaries for U.S. Senate and U.S. House on Tuesday will set the stage for a midterm general election in which Maine is expected to play a … Read original article: Read More
120th Congress – Investigative Authority and Potential Priorities | Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
The 120th Congress has the potential to pursue a broad investigative agenda focusing on different entities and industries, including digital … Read original article: Read More
Bill Kristol: Make It the Summer of Epstein
Todd Blanche did one singular thing that particularly pleased Donald Trump: He organized and executed the Epstein cover-up. Read original article: Read More
Move Over Roomba – Flagstaff Business News
… generative AI are crashing over us in rapid succession. And … And then there’s what he calls “collaborative AI” – machines working in partnership …
Apple unveils Siri AI, powered by Gemini | The Daily Star
… generative AI era … Apple unveils Siri AI, powered by Gemini. 1 MIN(s) ago. UPDATED 1 MIN(s) ago. TECH & STARTUP.
Encircling the Royalists – The American Prospect
Encircling the Royalists
Democrats finally show up to the class war.
by Harold Meyerson June 8, 2026
This article appears in the June 2026 issue of The American Prospect magazine. If you’d like to receive our next issue in your mailbox, please subscribe here.
In its more than two centuries of existence, the Democratic Party has, from time to time, demonstrated that it knows how to do politics. This may be one of those moments.
As historian Michael Kazin has demonstrated in his party history, What It Took to Win, Democratic successes have mainly resulted from advocacy for the economic interests of the working and middle classes, and against opponents who champion the interests of the rich. When Democrats fail, it’s often because they’re reluctant, or simply opposed, to advocate against the domination of big money, which also weakens their standing as working-class champions.
The most politically successful Democrat in history is surely Franklin Roosevelt, who led the Democrats to an unequaled victory in 1936. Since taking office in 1933, Roosevelt had put millions of unemployed Americans to work on public works projects and signed into law both Social Security and the National Labor Relations Act, which created workers’ right to collective bargaining.
Those achievements spawned a furious counterreaction from some of the nation’s wealthiest, most particularly the du Pont family, who held controlling interest in the nation’s largest corporation, General Motors. The du Ponts and their allies created the American Liberty League, drawing into their ranks some business leaders who’d figured prominently in the pre-Roosevelt, largely laissez-faire Democratic Party, and mounting an anti–New Deal propaganda barrage that dwarfed in magnitude and intensity anything that the official Republican Party put on display.
Roosevelt clearly understood that the Liberty Leaguers were a perfect foil. Business leaders in general were at an all-time nadir in public esteem, with Wall Street’s unregulated speculation having caused the 1929 crash, with corporate chiefs’ massive layoffs having caused record unemployment, and with the Liberty League having attacked the administration’s most popular programs. In a speech accepting his nomination at the Democrats’ 1936 convention, Roosevelt went after their attacks on democracy. “These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America,” he said. “What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power.”
In his final pre-election speech that year, to a thunderous crowd in Madison Square Garden, Roosevelt doubled down. “We know now that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob,” he told those in the arena and listeners to the national radio broadcast. “Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred! I should like to have it said of my first administration that in it, the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match.”
A number of media commentators responded that Roosevelt had gone too far and that his remarks would endanger his re-election. Some Democrats implored FDR to walk them back. He did nothing of the sort. And three days later, Americans gave Roosevelt and the Democrats the greatest electoral majority that any political party has ever won. The president took more than 60 percent of the popular vote even as total voter turnout soared, carrying every state but Maine and Vermont; the Democrats’ supermajority in the House rose to 334 (out of 435) and 75 (out of 96) in the Senate.
The triumphs of the New Deal order, while partial, were long-lived. Social Security and its Great Society complement, Medicare, greatly reduced pervasive poverty among the elderly; widespread unionization created a more economically stable working class than ever before; progressive taxation and financial regulation thwarted the emergence of a new generation of oligarchs. By the end of the 1970s, however, the era of broadly shared prosperity began to unravel. Taxes became decidedly less progressive, corporations’ war on unions went unchecked, and finance recaptured the control of corporate behavior that it had previously enjoyed.
WHEN THE NEW DEAL ORDER still was in place, Democrats had understandably turned their attention to those who’d been excluded from its benefits and rights, chiefly Black Americans but also other racial minorities and women. The kind of economic inequality that had defined pre–New Deal America had substantially abated. The tax structure had stood athwart the creation of the kind of billionaires and robber barons who’d loomed over the nation in the early 20th century. But for the occasional oilman, it’s hard to find many billionaires during the high-tax, high-unionization years of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s.
It’s taken an unconscionably long time, however, for the Democrats to truly reckon with the post-1980 changes to the American economy. Part of their failure was intellectual, an inability to see what was actually happening to their country. More precisely, most refused to look at the evidence of that change: The Economic Policy Institute’s famous chart of the growing gap, first emerging in the late 1970s, between increases in productivity and in median wages was published in 1994, but had little to no effect on the economic policies of either the Clinton or Obama presidencies.
Abetting this malpractice was the financial support those presidents and many other mainstream Democrats received from Wall Street and Silicon Valley interests. The Clinton administration enacted trade deals and financial deregulation promoted chiefly by banks and financialized corporations; Obama injected capital into banks but failed to save millions of homeowners in the wake of the 2008 crash, and declined to prosecute any of the miscreant bankers responsible for that crash.
Noting the steeply rising economic inequality in the 1990s while covering the recomposition of California’s workforce for the L.A. Weekly, I referenced FDR’s words while writing of Clinton: “Is there anyone whose hatred he welcomes?” But by that metric in particular, Clinton and Obama were clearly reflective of the party’s mainstream: unwilling and unable to stay some of the more predatory practices of American capitalism, and even more unwilling and unable to identify and attack particular predators.
At long last, this has begun to turn around. Just as the New Deal reforms were partially derived from more aggressive Socialist Party platforms of the preceding two decades, so the Democrats’ current attacks on oligarchy began on the party’s left fringe with democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, and were then amplified by fellow socialists Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani, as well as progressive Elizabeth Warren.
This April, such perspectives finally assumed fuller form. Within a few days of each other, both the Working Families Party (WFP), which functions as a social democratic group within the Democratic Party, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) unveiled progressive populist agendas for the upcoming midterm elections. The agendas are poll-tested; Data for Progress’s poll of the 11 proposals on the CPC’s list shows majority support even among Republicans for all 11.
Using the affordability crisis as a jumping-off point, the recommended policies not only call for innovations in economic policy but also explicitly target the current crop of economic royalists responsible for the mess. As CPC chair Greg Casar (D-TX) told my colleague David Dayen, “Trump villainized immigrants, Trump villainized the LGBT community. If Democrats want to fight back against that scapegoating, we need to take on the real villains taking your money.”
Indeed, each of the CPC proposals comes complete with two sets of villains: corporations that drain consumers, and the Republicans from Trump on down who protect them. One proposal calls for the public manufacture and sale of drugs like insulin, naloxone (which arrests the effects of opioid overdoses), and asthma-preventing inhalers at greatly reduced prices. Other proposals would impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies, eliminate Big Ag’s patent power over seeds (enabling farmers to simply replant seeds on their own), ban “surveillance pricing” (the ability of retailers to target prices to individuals based on their online personal data), and enable federal regulators to have expanded power to prevent utilities’ exploitation of consumers due to their monopoly status.
With or without the CPC’s version of a Contract with America, many Democratic candidates are already highlighting these kinds of economic issues, from Graham Platner in Maine to James Talarico in Texas. One key difference between the CPC agenda and the WFP’s is that the latter is specific about the tax increases the wealthy would have to pay to finance some of the proposals common to both groups’ lists. Obviously, to finance such proposals as providing $20,000 for down payments for first-time homebuyers, tax increases on the rich—such as what Mamdani has proposed in New York City—would be required.
FORTUNATELY FOR DEMOCRATS, the very rich have been hard at work convincing the public to hate their guts. Where Steve Jobs was once hailed as an innovator providing smartphones to the world, with a personal profile that tended more toward asceticism than conspicuous consumption, the current crop of Silicon Valley billionaires are not only ostentatious in their spending but overtly hostile to employee rights, consumer interests, democratic forms of government, racial egalitarianism, and, at least in the case of Elon Musk, normal life. Through their indifference to the effects of social media on children (and the rest of us), and their huge investments in AI and the data centers required to power it, they’ve become the promoters of the most widely feared 21st-century phenomena. Not since John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Henry Clay Frick have we had such a crop of oligarchs. That the Musks and the Bezoses, the Zuckerbergs and the Brins, the Thiels and the Andreessens have turned themselves into the financial base of Trumpism—both the man and his madness—has likely created a reciprocal downward pull on the approval rating of both Trump and themselves.
Democrats should be climbing over each other to welcome their hatred.
There are still limits, unfortunately, to most Democrats’ willingness to seriously take on the very rich. The governors of the two largest blue states—California’s Gavin Newsom and New York’s Kathy Hochul—oppose wealth taxes. As I write this, only one of the six main Democrats running to succeed Newsom supports the one-time wealth tax placed on the November ballot in California to prevent a collapse in state services. That Democrat is Tom Steyer, who, as a billionaire himself, likely gains from the perception that he’s willing to pay higher taxes, just as Roosevelt gained from the perception that he was a traitor to his class.
Continue/Read Original Article: Encircling the Royalists – The American Prospect
