Topic - ThinkProgress

On Monday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), a long-time advocate of the DREAM Act, strongly rebuked a GOP witness for opposing a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants brought into the country illegally by their parents. The witness, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, rose to prominence for advising Mitt Romney’s “self-deportation” immigration policy during the [...]

According to Deadline, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the producers of the Academy Awards, apparently have mistaken a flat, ugly Oscars hosting performance by Seth MacFarlane for “relevance,” and asked him back to host again next year. Given that part of the reason MacFarlane was asked to host this year is because he has a [...]

Many experts now say that if recent volume trends continue we will see a “near ice-free Arctic in summer” within a decade. Creative tech guru Andy Lee Robinson shows why in a wondrous new video — set to music he wrote and played: Let’s help this video go viral! Related Posts: CryoSat-2 Confirms Arctic Sea Ice [...]

On Saturday, former President Bill Clinton became the inaugural recipient of GLAAD’s “Advocate for Change” award for his advocacy for marriage equality over the past few years. During his speech, Clinton praised GLAAD for their work in helping people better appreciate the lives of LGBT people, and he committed to doing the same until equality [...]

The bridge is yours. -Apparently, some Mad Men writers are working on a show set in Cocoa Beach about the space race. -Jack Black and Will Ferrell will make an entire movie about playing tag. -Diane Ruggerio will co-write the Veronica Mars movie script. -The real backstory on the Kirk-Uhura kiss that broke racial barriers. [...]

On Thursday night’s Parks and Recreation, Patton Oswalt played a Star Wars-loving Pawneean who mounted an epic filibuster under a little-known provision of the rules governing the City Council. It’s a great meta cameo for a guy who’s a nerd icon. But watching the whole thing, which Parks and Rec wisely released online several days [...]

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tore into conservative critics who have sought to exploit the Boston bombings to delay immigration reform, eliciting a strong rebuke from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “The American people are overwhelmingly in favor of immigration reform,” Schumer noted during Monday morning’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, “The Chairman has a very [...]

MIAMI, Florida — A former cabinet secretary under President George W. Bush took apart a main talking point that conservatives have used to oppose immigration reform. Speaking at the Hispanic Leadership Network conference, former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez addressed the notion, oft-repeated on the right, that immigrants “take jobs away from Americans.” That idea “is [...]

Last week, Oklahoma’s Republican state House Majority Leader Dennis Johnson spoke on the house floor about his experiences as a small business owner, when his speech suddenly veered into anti-semitism: That’s what you do as a small business, and then you get the reward of success. People come back to you. They like what you [...]

The National Organization for Marriage’s Jennifer Roback Morse has been one of the most outspoken opponents of not only marriage equality, but of gay people themselves. Whether she’s claiming that same-sex couples’ children resent them or reiterating her belief that homosexuality is a chosen behavior and so gays and lesbians should be celibate for life, she [...]

As the French National Assembly prepares to vote on final approval of marriage equality, anti-gay violence has severely escalated. Multiple guerrilla rallies by opponents of the law have taken place over the past few days, resulting in vandalized cars, assaulted journalists, and even death threats to lawmakers. A 24-year-old gay man was brutally beaten Saturday night after leaving [...]

Welcome to The Morning Pride, ThinkProgress LGBT’s daily round-up of the latest in LGBT policy, politics, and some culture too! Here’s what we’re reading this morning, but please let us know what stories you’re following as well. Follow us all day on Twitter at @TPEquality. - The Delaware House of Represenatives is expected to vote [...]

On Friday, while the manhunt for suspected Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev continued, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) published a series of tweets suggesting that he wanted to revive the George W. Bush-era debates about whether terrorism suspects can be denied many constitutional rights and tried by a military tribunal. In a statement Graham released yesterday with [...]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) smacked down Rep. Peter King’s (R-NY) attempt to link Boston bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to Islamic extremists based in the American Muslim community with no evidence, an allegation that emerged as part of a theme among House Republicans on Sunday morning. The exchange between Feinstein and King took place on [...]

A Tea Party Congressman has joined a growing list of conservatives are seizing on the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect to argue for looser gun laws. Appearing on The Blaze Thursday afternoon, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) suggested that the Bostonians on lock down need high capacity magazines to protect themselves from violence. Via [...]

MIAMI — On Friday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) tried to use the Boston bombings to slow down the legislative push for immigration reform. Speaking during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s first hearing on a new bipartisan immigration proposal, Grassley said that “[g]iven the events of this week, it’s important to understand the gaps and loopholes” in [...]

MIAMI — At a conservative Latino conference where the mere mention of his name as a presidential candidate drew wild applause, former Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) delivered a blistering critique of Republican outreach to racial minorities, calling the GOP a “reactionary party” bereft of ideas both for appealing to minority voters and for repairing the [...]

A 2010 study found “global warming is the main cause of a significant intensification in the North Atlantic Subtropical High that in recent decades has more than doubled the frequency of abnormally wet or dry summer weather in the southeastern United States.” Below, meteorologist Dr. Jeff Masters relates how wild climate swings are becoming the [...]

Opponents of the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2013 (CISPA) are challenging sponsor Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) to debate a 14-year-old about the merits of the proposal. The site, TheMikeRogersChallenge.com, was recently launched by Fight for the Future in response to Rogers’ claim that opponents of CISPA are 14-year-old “tweeters” in their [...]

As Minnesota legislators prepare to consider marriage equality legislation, the bill’s opponents have begun sending out mailers targeting undecided lawmakers. Heather Carlson, reporter for the Rochester Post-Bulletin, tweeted a Minnesota for Marriage mailer targeting state. Sen. Matt Schmit (DFL), suggesting that marriage equality would “erase moms and dads”: Gay “marriage” in Minnesota … it could [...]

Welcome to The Morning Pride, ThinkProgress LGBT’s daily round-up of the latest in LGBT policy, politics, and some culture too! Here’s what we’re reading this morning, but please let us know what stories you’re following as well. Follow us all day on Twitter at @TPEquality. - Today is the Day of Silence; students across the [...]

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) joined 45 other senators in voting down a compromise amendment that would have required gun sellers at gun shows or online to conduct background checks with federally licensed gun dealers. The measure, supported by an overwhelming majority of Americans, has been touted by law enforcement officials and victims of gun violence, [...]

Flying in the face of the Western stereotypes about Buddhists, a highly popular monk in Myanmar is using his position to call for persecution of the country’s Muslims, going so far as to deem himself the “Burmese Bin Laden.” Wirathu is a 45-year old monk, dressing in traditional saffron-colored robes, living in a monastery in [...]

The Keystone XL Pipeline has been catapulted back in the spotlight of the House of Representatives this week, with Republicans continuing to waste taxpayer dollars rehashing who has the power to approve the project. Meanwhile, the State Department will be hosting a public hearing in Nebraska today to give residents a chance to comment on [...]

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) warned on Wednesday that President Obama could unilaterally legalize millions of undocumented immigrants if Congress does not pass a bipartisan immigration bill offered by the so-called Gang of 8. Appearing on the nationally syndicated “The Mark Levin Show” — one of many conservative talk radio interviews the senator is granting to [...]

The bridge is yours. -Shane Carruth on the ending of Upstream Color. -The unaired episodes of Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt. 23 will be online, thank goodness. -As someone without a functional sense of smell, the idea of scent-enhanced screenings of movies does pretty much nothing for me. -Game of Thrones could have had [...]

Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said on Wednesday that he is more reluctant to support arming Syria’s rebels than he had been previously, saying that the situation in Syria is “more confusing on the opposition side today than it was six months ago.” Back in February, Dempsey said that he had supported [...]

Tens of thousands of Tennessee Walking Horses are born in the United States each year, many of which are destined to perform a crazy-looking walk called “the Big Lick” in one of many famous shows. But trainers today beat, burn, whip, and electrify horses to make them act this way — and federal law will [...]

Normal people who screw up at work or in their personal lives – be it an ethical transgression, general selfishness, or other direct failure – expect to be fired, cut off socially, or face other serious consequences that alter their lives. But politicians (and other rich and famous people more broadly) always seem to get [...]

Latepass on this one on a day full of screeners. But I really, really love that the new trailer for Man of Steel presents Superman as a story that Lois Lane is tracking down: I’m not super-crazy about her giving Clark Kent his nom de guerre. But I really appreciate her being the audience surrogate, [...]

The Senate voted down an amendment offered by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) to expand background checks for gun purchases at gun shows and online, in a vote of 54-46. The measure needed 60 votes to be included in the underlining bill. As Vice President Joe Biden called the finally tally, Tucson [...]

A West Virginia high school student is filing an injunction against her principal, who she claims is threatening to punish her for speaking out against an factually inaccurate abstinence assembly at her school. Katelyn Campbell, who is the student body vice president at George Washington High School, alleges her principal threatened to call the college [...]

ExxonMobil’s recent oil spill dumped some 200,000 gallons into Mayflower, Arkansas, killed wildlife, and caused 22 homes to be evacuated. As the Natural Resources committee takes up another bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) argued at a hearing that the spill is more evidence the Keystone XL pipeline is a [...]

The bridge is yours. -Wedding shoots that make me hate wedding dresses slightly less. -Always love seeing people make lemonade out of the Westboro Baptist Church. -Hollywood produces violent movies because they are profitable for both studios and theater owners, if that’s what you mean by “cool.” -How Pixar predicted the future. -Jon Hamm explains [...]

At a social conservative conference this week, Iowa’s Secretary of State argued that Republicans need to pass voter ID in order to advance their top policy goals, including banning abortion and same-sex marriage. Matt Schultz (R), elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010, spoke at length about his support for implementing voter ID in [...]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) became emotional on the Senate floor Wednesday as he urged senators to support a gun safety bill that, in part, expands background checks to individuals who purchase guns at gun shows or online. The Senate will consider at least nine amendments to the measure on Wednesday afternoon, including provisions [...]

This week, South Africa and Norway cohosted the International Conference on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Oslo, which was designed to follow through on the United Nations’ resolution to support LGBT human rights. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon submitted a video message to the conference, pointing out that culture, tradition, and religion cannot [...]

Today the New Zealand Parliament voted 77-44 to approve marriage equality in its final reading, making it the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to do so. This marks the first time a marriage equality law explicitly defines protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity — rescinding requirements that trans people divorce before they [...]

The Senate will consider amendments to comprehensive gun safety bill on Wednesday, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) — a co-sponsor of a bipartisan measure to expand background checks to gun shows and online sales — is telling reporters that the provision is unlikely to attract the 60 votes it needs for passage. From NBC’s Kelly [...]

A new bipartisan report released on Tuesday by the Constitution Project condemned force-feeding terror detainees that are engaged in hunger strikes. The issue came to the forefront on Monday after the New York Times published an op-ed by an inmate at the Guantanamo Bay prison detailing the hunger strike he and other inmates have undergone [...]

In the debate over government spending, the central data point wielded by fans of austerity is the claim that once a country reaches a debt load over 90 percent of its economy — a threshold the United States is approaching — economic growth goes into a tailspin. That argument came from a 2010 study by [...]

We’ve written extensively about how how arctic ice loss is driving extreme weather. Jennifer A. Francis of Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences has been at the forefront of this research. She appears in many videos explaining the connection between climate change and extreme weather (see recent 40 minute video here). Here’s a short [...]

In the first quarter of 2013, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) raised about $2.4 million for his gubernatorial campaign. Of that, a huge portion came from oil and gas interests — likely impressed by his long record of active climate denial. A ThinkProgress review of data from the Virginia Public Access Project reveals [...]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday commemorating the Boston Marathon attacks said that some Americans have become complacent about terrorism in such a way that is reminiscent to the time before the 9/11 attacks: MCCONNELL: On 9/11 we forever disabused of the notion that attacks, like [...]

by Emily Southard, Campaign Manager for Forecast the Facts Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) has doubled down on his climate change denial in response to pressure from constituents and the local media. In a Salt Lake Tribune op-ed this Saturday, the newly appointed chair of a key climate science committee delivered a litany of climate denial [...]

Six years ago, Virginia Tech University went down in history as the site of the deadliest school shooting to ever occur in the US. Seung-Hui Choi, a 23-year-old English major, gunned down 56 people and killed 32. Choi had been declared “an imminent danger to self or others as a result of mental illness” by [...]

The horror that was the aftermath of the explosions at the end of the Boston Marathon on Monday drew forth some of the best of people. With three dead and more than 100 wounded, dozens of citizens comforted and aided the injured, thousands more offered up their homes to stranded marathon runners. Such national tragedies [...]

As a sports lover and as a Bostonian, I’m devastated to hear of the explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that appears to have, at minmum, severely injured a number of the runners. My colleagues at ThinkProgress will be covering the details of the explosion on the home page as we hear [...]

Two bombs — in two different locations — detonated next to the Boston Marathon finish line this afternoon, about three hours after the winners crossed the line. Google has established a person finder for the incident here. The Boston Police Department estimates that two explosions occurred at around 2:50 PM and a third incident occurred [...]