The Nation March 30, 2020

A Deeply Rooted Story This is just a short note to say thank you for Zoë Carpenter’s article “The Standing of Trees” [March 2/9], about Richard Powers and his book The Overstory. As an amateur botanist, I was particularly delighted. The article made my day (and week). Plus, I was thrilled to learn the good news that Powers is working on another book. ELIZABETH PULLMANAUSTIN, TEX. The Iowa Debacle Democratic Party leaders and organizers should all read the late Jeffrey Cox’s editorial “Iowa Was Just the Start” in the March 2/9 issue of The Nation. Then they should think about it—and read it again. The debacle of the Iowa caucuses was much more than an embarrassment. It was a snapshot of how dysfunctional the leadership of the current Democratic Party…

If Bernie Sanders had simply demonstrated that it is possible to wage a competitive campaign for the presidency without relying on wealthy donors, corporate funders, or secretive PAC money, he would have earned his place in history. If all Sanders had to show for his two campaigns for the presidency was the greatest leftward shift in the political discourse since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s second term—putting not just Medicare for All but also the Green New Deal, free public higher education, fair taxation, cancellation of student debt, housing as a human right, universal free child care, and an unwavering critique of the billionaire class firmly onto the political agenda—we would owe him our gratitude. If his contribution to the debate on foreign policy never went beyond refusing to endorse trade deals…

After getting walloped on Super Tuesday, Michael Bloomberg ended his presidential campaign on March 4. But according to more than a dozen members of his campaign staff, the former New York mayor’s presidential dreams actually died two weeks earlier, when Senator Elizabeth Warren eviscerated his record during the February 19 debate in Las Vegas. Not a single Bloomberg staffer I spoke to was surprised by the campaign’s implosion. Speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisal and because of the campaign’s restrictive nondisclosure agreements, employees cited that bruising debate as well as a general lack of enthusiasm among the staff as the main factors that doomed his presidential run. “We could hardly get any volunteers…. Ever since the first debate, all of us faced a ton of…

Borders don’t just cut across international boundaries; they also increasingly stretch into the interior of nations—into our homes, communities, courts, and everyday interactions. About a year ago, we began a project designed to tell some of the stories of people affected by these borders, in their own words. We’ve heard from people from all over the world who have fled or left their homes and are looking to find or keep their place in America. › Find more stories online at: TheNation.com/MigrantVoices NANCY/CHINA A Better Life? “The move to the US changed my dad a lot. He used to be an architect. And it’s been really hard for him here. He now works in a window factory six days a week, long hours. He started drinking. My mom had to…

Pundits, myself included, made the mistake of declaring former vice president Joe Biden politically dead and Senator Bernie Sanders the 2020 Democratic front-runner after only three presidential nominating contests in February. Just a week later, many repeated the mistake in reverse, writing off Sanders after Biden surged back with a landslide win in South Carolina, then took 10 of the 14 states on Super Tuesday three days later. Fact-check: Biden was never dead—and Sanders wasn’t, either, after Super Tuesday. But combined with his losses the next week in Mississippi, Missouri, and especially Michigan, the bad Super Tuesday news uncovered the main lesson that, if not heeded, could ultimately doom his campaign: Black voters matter, and despite running a better, more diverse campaign than he did in 2016, Sanders is overwhelmingly…

743% Increase in the number of women in US prisons from 1980 to 2016 30% US share of women who are incarcerated worldwide 4% US share of women worldwide 63% Percentage of women in state prisons who were incarcerated for nonviolent offenses 90% Percentage of women in US prisons who experienced traumatic events before their incarceration, according to the Bureau of Prisons 180K Number of women banned from 1996 to 2011 from public support programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families because of a felony conviction…