In the News
Let's pretend you have just been picked to run a small island nation. Congratulations!
But don't settle in to your throne quite yet. A potential catastrophe looms on the horizon. A huge tsunami is coming your way.
"Resistance" was the watchword for 2017. Resistance not just to Donald Trump, but to a status quo that gave our most powerful bully pulpit to an actual bully. Progressives not only refused to go backward in 2017; they demanded a new conversation that challenged old orthodoxies. The hashtag #MeToo became the bellwether for a national dialogue about sexual abuse, workplace discrimination, and equal rights that is opening the way for societal transformation.
Federal lawmakers announced two new bills to combat sexual harassment. One would require companies to publicly disclose all sexual harassment settlements and the other would exempt buyouts paid to sexual harassers from tax deductibility.
Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) announced the proposals this week with a number of co-sponsors, including Reps. Carolyn Mahoney (D-New York), Annie Kuster (D-Hopkington) and Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove).
The House and the Senate have reached an agreement on the final GOP tax bill and plan to vote on it sometime next week. However, there's still aggressive mobilization against the legislation, fueled by progressive organizations like the Not One Penny and Stop the #GOPTaxScam coalitions; Indivisible; and Americans for Tax Fairness. These groups are working hard to disrupt a tax agenda that overwhelmingly favors the wealthy, even though in all likelihood the bill will pass.
Congressman Ro Khanna represents the 17th district of California, better known as Silicon Valley. Khanna says that, despite the administration's insistence Republican tax reform will help the middle class, it will actually help corporations, including big tech companies.
Republicans are closing in on their first legislative victory of the year, after two GOP Senators previously opposed to the tax plan got on board this weekend. But Democrats still have concerns.
U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA), who joined Cheddar before the most recent concessions were made, said the policies may benefit companies in his home district in the heart of Silicon Valley, but do little for Middle America.
The United States is helping Saudi Arabia commit "war crimes" in Yemen, according to US Congressman Ro Khanna.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera's UpFront aired on Friday, Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California, said the US made a mistake in supporting the Saudi-led coalition's bombing campaign of Yemen.
"Today, I believe that we are aiding Saudi Arabia in Saudi Arabia's committing war crimes," Khanna told UpFront host Mehdi Hasan.
With the pace of mergers and acquisitions in the American economy quickening, a new era of trust-busting may be coming.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are pushing legislation this week that would allow people permitted to carry concealed guns in one state to bring their weapons with them when they travel, even if their destination state has more stringent requirements to qualify for concealed carry.
But if the GOP wants to do that, a Democratic congressman argues in a new video, they should also be in favor of forcing states to recognize protections granted under each another's marijuana laws.