The Oklahoma Observer

Rural Does Not Equal Red

Columnists Jim Hightower - February 17, 2021 0

To say that President Joe Biden lost the rural vote is to sugarcoat the dire situation Democrats face out beyond the suburbs. Why? Well, scoff too many lazy politicos and pundits, rural America is indelibly red, filled with white rubes and racists, so Dems should write them off and concentrate resources where the big numbers are. Aha! Might it be a problem for a political party to dismiss an entire diverse constituency of millions as […]

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They Fear Trump More Than They Love America

Columnists Joe Conason - February 12, 2021 0

Despite the compelling facts and arguments mustered by the House impeachment managers during their presentation to the Senate, it is depressingly clear that Donald Trump almost certainly will escape conviction for encouraging, inciting, allowing and then praising his mob’s assault on the U.S. Capitol. A courageous handful of Republican senators will vote to hold him accountable, but the rest remain deeply fearful of the former president and his most violent followers. The timeline of his […]

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The Minimum Wage Can Be Tricky

Columnists Froma Harrop - February 11, 2021 0

There are studies – oh, there are studies – on how hiking the minimum wage affects employment. And good studies contradict other good studies. The problem is that the mechanics linking wages to jobs have a lot of moving parts. The details matter. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour sits high on the progressive bucket list. The base rate is now a very low $7.25 an hour. Had the minimum in 1968 […]

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Is Marjorie Taylor Greene A Conservative?

Columnists Joe Conason - February 10, 2021 0

With their cowardly refusal to discipline Marjorie Taylor Greene, the House Republicans’ retreat from integrity is now complete. Only under the threat of sanctions against Greene by House Democrats did House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, even pretend to address the Georgia representative’s many offenses against decency, comity and sanity. And when the Republican caucus met behind closed doors, McCarthy’s weak leadership allowed Greene to take over the meeting, which reportedly concluded in applause for […]

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Crying Fire In A Crowded Theater

Columnists Susan Estrich - February 9, 2021 0

Perhaps the most famous quote about the First Amendment – one that is often garbled and is sure to be dissected in the impeachment trial – comes from former Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing for a unanimous Supreme Court in Schenck v. United States: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” In other words, the First Amendment is not […]

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