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Podcast: Fear and loathing in Washington: The debt ceiling

Podcast: Fear and loathing in Washington: The debt ceiling

Here we go again. Congress is facing a June 1 deadline to avoid a totally preventable “debt ceiling” crisis. If no one flinches in this dangerous game of chicken, the U.S. economy will be dragged into a cataclysm, destroying America’s global reputation and unleashing unfathomable pain for every American family.

An artifact from World War I, the debt ceiling comes back every few years to provide existential drama — the battlefield of partisan politics. It all sounds a bit insane, but it’s only the latest crisis to be spawned by our increasingly dysfunctional political system.


On this week’s episode, Fernando is joined by Washington uber-insider Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, to discuss her mounting fear that a “default is possible” and what we can do about it.

Also, Fernando chats with Nellie Gorbea, former Rhode Island Secretary of State, for the latest installment of the X-Ray Vision interview. In this quirky conversation, Nellie shares her dream superpower, transformative leadership vision, and why Puerto Rican rum is superior to scotch.

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‘I Can’t Keep Up’: Many Single Moms Were Struggling To Get By. Then Gas Prices Shot Up.

Luna Rosado, a single mom of three in Connecticut, said she is paying about $40 more a week on gas, cutting into her budget for groceries and other essentials.

Courtesy of Luna Rosado; Emily Scherer for The 19th

‘I Can’t Keep Up’: Many Single Moms Were Struggling To Get By. Then Gas Prices Shot Up.

The rise in gas prices happened so quickly, single mom Luna Rosado has barely had time to adjust.

Rosado fills her tank twice a week to commute to her two health care jobs and shuttle her three kids to school, basketball and soccer practice.

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African American elementary student and his friends studying over computers during a class in the classroom.

A 20-year education veteran examines the decline of student performance in America, highlighting the impact of screen time, overreliance on technology, weak fundamentals, and unequal school funding—and calls for urgent education reform.

Getty Images, StockPlanets

The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste - What To Do

The motto of the United Negro College Fund can today be applied to all children in our school systems—not just the socially disadvantaged, or poor, or intellectually challenged, but all children regardless of SES characteristics or intelligence. I say this based on 20 years of working as a volunteer tutor or staff in elementary and middle schools in various parts of the country.

The problem has several components. The first is the pervasive negative impact on children's minds of their compulsive use of screens, social media, and the internet. There is no shortage of articles that have been written, both scientific and anecdotal, about the various aspects of this negative impact. Research shows that the compulsive use of screen devices leads to a variety of social interaction and psychological problems.

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Canceled and Silenced: From Instagram Ban to Fears of Censorship

A civil rights attorney reflects on being banned from Instagram, rising censorship, and her parents’ escape from Cuba—drawing chilling parallels between past authoritarian regimes and growing threats to free speech in America.

Getty Images, filo

Canceled and Silenced: From Instagram Ban to Fears of Censorship

I have often discussed my parents' fleeing Cuba, in part, for free speech.

The Washington Post just purged one third of their team, including reporters who are stationed in Ukraine and the middle east, reporting on critical international affairs.

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Immigration Crackdowns Are Breaking the Food System

Man standing with "Law Enforcement" sign on his vest

Photo provided by WALatinoNews

Immigration Crackdowns Are Breaking the Food System

In using immigration to target Farm and food chain workers, as well as other essential industries like carework, cleaning, and food chains, our federal government is committing us to a food system in danger.

A food system where Farmworkers, meat packers, and other food chain workers are threatened with violence is not a system that will keep families healthy and fed. It is not a system that the soils and waterways of our planet can sustain, and it is not a system that will support us in surviving climate change. We each have a role to take in moving toward a food system free of exploitation.

The threat of immigration enforcement, which has always been hand in hand with racism, makes all workers vulnerable. This form of abuse from employers, landlords, and law enforcement is used to threaten and remove workers who organize against their exploitation. This is true even in places like Washington State, where laws like the Keep Washington Working Act which prohibits local law enforcement agencies from giving any non public information to Federal Immigration officers for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement , and the recently passed HB 2165 banning mask use by law enforcement offer some kind of protection.

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