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U.S. Public Interest Research Group

U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students in state capitals across the country, we take on the special interests on issues such as product safety, public health, campaign finance reform, tax and budget reform and consumer protection, where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.


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​Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 19, 2026 in Washington, D.C. The hearing was held to examine the Department of Justice's proposed FY2027 budget estimate.

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GOP Waves White Flag in Contest of Ideas

There was a time the Republican Party believed in policies and principles. Conservatives genuinely believed in democracy and America, and not the cynical new version that requires its citizens to hate each other. And they believed in a contest of ideas.

The concept of competing for the soul of the nation with intellectually rigorous ideas and admittedly populist rhetoric became foundational to American politics and in particular movement conservatism later on in that century.

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U.S. President Donald Trump (L) speaks to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wile.

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) speaks to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as he oversees "Operation Epic Fury" at Mar-a-Lago on February 28, 2026, in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Why Trump Has Gone Global

Why has Donald Trump transformed his foreign policy from isolationist to interventionist?

He doesn’t have some newfound curiosity in foreign affairs. Nor does he now deeply care about the global order. He’s shifted his focus for a different reason entirely: because his domestic agenda keeps getting stymied by checks and balances.

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Has Deception Become America’s Currency of Power?
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Has Deception Become America’s Currency of Power?

The most dangerous currency in American politics today isn’t money — it’s deception. It buys loyalty, distorts reality, and reshapes institutions long before citizens realize the damage. My father had a simple way of warning me to guard against that kind of influence: “Don’t take any wooden nickels.” He wanted me to recognize when someone was lying, conning, or dressing something up to look like value when it wasn’t. I never imagined that my childhood warning would become a civic alarm in my adult life, but it has. For years, politicians have handed Americans political wooden nickels — promises polished to look like truth — and the damage those deceptions have caused is now painfully clear.

In this administration, deception circulates like currency — traded, exchanged, and used to purchase influence, loyalty, and time. It is not merely a habit; it has become a governing strategy — a set of tactics used to acquire power, protect it, and bend institutions to its will. .

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The Rising Legacy of Latinas in America’s Armed Forces

Female U.S. soldier wearing 2023 OCP uniform saluting in front of american flag

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The Rising Legacy of Latinas in America’s Armed Forces

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico —Visitors still pause at the white marble headstone of SPC Frances Marie Vega at the Puerto Rico National Cemetery. The 20‑year‑old soldier was the first female service member of Puerto Rican descent to die in combat during the Iraq War. Her legacy, once known mostly within military circles, has become a powerful symbol of the growing contributions and sacrifices of Latinas in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Vega was aboard a CH‑47 Chinook helicopter when it was hit by a surface‑to‑air missile near Fallujah on November 2, 2003, killing 16 soldiers. The shoot‑down became one of the deadliest single incidents for U.S. forces in the early stages of the Iraq War.

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