Government Archives | 2ndLook News

31 Jan

Why the News Is Not the Truth

Stacia Wilson0 CommentsArticles, Featured, Government, Republished Article60 Minutes, Clinton, Harvard Business Review, Joseph Pulitzer, media, National Review, New York Times, news, news media, press, propaganda, Pulitzer, Reagan, Wall Street Journal

“Why the News Is Not the Truth” by Peter Vanderwicken, from May-June edition / 1995. This article is reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review and has not been peer reviewed by 2ndLook News. The U.S. press, like the U.S. government, is a corrupt and troubled institution. Corrupt not so much in the sense that it accepts bribes but in a systemic sense. It fails to do what it claims to do, what it should do, and what society expects it to do. The news media and the government are entwined in a vicious circle of mutual manipulation, mythmaking, and…

02 Aug

Canada’s Freedom Convoy and the Emergencies Act: A Postmortem

Judith Sears1 CommentArticles, Economics, Government, International NewsCanada, civic order, COVID-19, Emergencies Act, Freedom Convoy, Jim Watson, Justin Trudeau, liberty, mandates, Ontario, protest, Tamara Lich, Trucker Convoy

For three weeks in January and February 2022, a convoy of truckers dubbing themselves the Freedom Convoy shut down parts of downtown Ottawa and some border crossings between Canada and the US. It began as a protest of vaccine mandates and eventually expanded to become a protest of government overreach of all kinds related to COVID-19. The protests significantly interrupted commerce. The Trudeau Administration cited this disruption as justification for declaring a national emergency under the Emergencies Act. With these enhanced powers, the government froze $7.8 million CAD in 201 bank accounts for a little over a week. The flexing…

05 May

Is The Right to Abortion Set to Be Overturned? – Unpacking the Leaked Supreme Court Opinion

Stacia Wilson1 CommentArticles, Governmentabortion, hich legalized abortion in the US, Justice Samuel Alito, leaked opinion, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, Roe v. Wade, Supreme Court, US Supreme Court

On Monday, May 2, 2022, Politico released a (now authenticated) leaked first draft of a Supreme Court opinion regarding Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case is an appeal of a lower court ruling which had struck down a Mississippi law that banned most abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy. This Mississippi law conflicts with the Roe v. Wade ruling from 1973 which legalized abortion in the US, and the Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey ruling of 1992, which revisited the Roe ruling and eventually upheld it with some modifications. Thus, this Mississippi case has once again…

08 Dec

Influence for Sale: How American Politicians Have Been Bought and Paid For

Nick Ramos4 CommentsArticles, GovernmentAndrew Yang, Bernie Sanders, campaign finance, campaign finance reform, Citizens United, FEC, Federal Corrupt Practices Act, Federal Election Campaign Act, Hillary Clinton, Joe Manchin, Joseph Keppler, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice John Paul Stevens, Kyrsten Sinema, Mitch McConnell, money in politics, President Nixon, quid pro quo, Robert Bork, Robert E. Mutch, Supreme Court, Tillman Act, Watergate

In 2000, the total investment in United States federal elections—congressional and presidential—was $3 billion. By 2020, it had shot up to $14.4 billion. Perhaps it’s time to ask what that additional $11.4 billion does for the American people. What’s really being bought? Campaign finance is back in the news thanks to the actions of Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, who have spent the past few months blocking the Democratic Party’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in the Senate. When journalists looked into possible motivations for this obstruction, they found money to be a key factor. Sinema raised over $1…

30 Aug

Congress in Crisis: Assessing Our Broken Branch, Pt. II

Nathan C. Smolensky0 CommentsArticles, Governmentcampaign finance, Congress, Democratic Party, electoral reform, House of Representatives, John Sarbanes, Katherine Gehl, Ken Buck, Lawrence Lessig, Newt Gingrich, reform, Republican Party, Ro Khanna, Senate, structural reform, US Congress

How We Got Here, Why It's Getting Worse, & What We Can Do About It Editor’s Note: This is the second article in our two-part series on Congress. Part I discusses the issues currently causing the problems in Congress. This part discusses how we got to this point. “I think the most important man in the history of Congress, after [James] Madison, was Newt Gingrich. And I think Newt Gingrich destroyed congress”[1] —Lawrence Lessig A pivotal moment in the evolution of our modern legislature came in 1994, when Republicans won control of the House of Representatives for the first time…

28 Aug

Congress in Crisis: Assessing Our Broken Branch, Pt. I

Nathan C. Smolensky1 CommentArticles, GovernmentCongress, corruption, fundraising, House of Representatives, Justin Amash, Senate, Speaker of the House, The Swamp, United States

Editor’s Note: This is the first article in our two-part series on Congress. This part discusses the issues currently causing the problems. Part II discusses how we got to this point. What's Going On in Washington? “The founders envisioned Congress as a deliberative body in which outcomes are discovered. We are fast approaching the point, however, where Congress exists as little more than a formality to legitimize outcomes dictated by the president, the speaker of the House, and the Senate majority leader.” Former Rep. Justin Amash (L-MI) These were the words of Justin Amash (L-MI), first printed in a Washington…

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