Democrat Politics

Missouri’s status as one of the most active death penalty states is about to change for one simple reason: The state is running out of inmates to execute.

The lethal injection of Christopher Collings on Dec. 3 left just eight men on death row — a figurative term since condemned Missouri inmates are housed with other prisoners. By contrast, nearly 100 people were living with a death sentence three decades ago.

Christopher Collings was executed on Dec. 3.

Three of the eight Missouri inmates will almost certainly live out their lives in prison after being declared mentally incompetent for execution. Court appeals continue for the other five, and no new executions are scheduled.

Missouri isn’t alone. Across the nation, the number of people awaiting the ultimate punishment has declined sharply since the turn of the century.

“We are in a very, very different place than we were 25 years ago ,and that’s for very good reasons,” said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that doesn’t take a position on the death penalty but is critical of problems in its application.

The Legal Defense Fund’s Death Row USA report showed 2,180 people with pending death sentences this year, down from 3,682 in 2000. Missouri’s peak year was 1997, when 96 people were on death row.

After reaching a height of 98 U.S. executions in 1999, the annual number hasn’t topped 30 since 2014. So far this year, 23 executions have been carried out — six in Alabama, five in Texas, four in Missouri, three in Oklahoma, two in South Carolina and one each in Georgia, Utah and Florida. Two more executions occurred just this month: Dec. 18 in Indiana and Dec. 19 in Oklahoma.

Use of the death penalty has declined in part because many states have turned away from it. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have abolished the punishment, and five others have moratoriums.

Even in active death penalty states, prosecutors in murder cases are far more inclined to seek life in prison without parole.

In the 1990s, the nation was typically seeing over 300 new death sentences each year. By contrast, 21 people were sentenced to death nationwide in 2023.

A major factor is the cost. At trial, additional experts are often brought in, cases tend to run longer, and a separate hearing is required in the penalty phase, Maher said.

Costs don’t end with the prosecution. Court appeals often drag on for decades, running up huge legal bills incurred by public entities — prosecutors, attorneys general, public defenders. Sixteen of this year’s 23 executions involved inmates incarcerated 20 years or more.

“Millions and millions of dollars are being used — those are taxpayer dollars — for a system that by and large the American public has concluded is not keeping them safer,” Maher said.

Court rulings have resulted in fewer death sentences, too, including Supreme Court decisions barring execution of the mentally disabled and those who were minors at the time of their crimes, Maher said.

Views of capital punishment also have changed. A Gallup poll last year found 50% of Americans believed capital punishment was applied unfairly, compared to 47% who believed it was fairly implemented. This was the highest such number since Gallup first began asking about the fairness of the death penalty’s application in 2000.

Still, there are indications of new support for the death penalty in some places.

Two executions in South Carolina were the first in that state since 2011. Utah carried out its first execution in 14 years. Idaho tried to execute Thomas Eugene Creech in February — the state’s first since 2012 — but corrections department workers couldn’t find a viable vein to deliver the lethal drug. The execution in Indiana this week would be the first in 15 years.

Meanwhile, incoming President Donald Trump, who restarted federal executions, with 13 carried out in his first term, has suggested he’ll use the death penalty again. On Christmas Eve, President Joe Biden commuted 37 federal death sentences to life in prison, leaving just three inmates facing execution when Trump is inaugurated in January. 

“If President Trump and other elected officials are paying attention to what public support is telling them, they will be more reluctant to use the death penalty going forward,” Maher said.

Some of the most aggressive prosecutors pursuing the death penalty are in California, even though Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom placed a moratorium on its use.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson’s office has successfully prosecuted four death penalty cases since he took office six years ago, including one last week: Jerome Rogers was sentenced to death for robbing and killing two elderly women.

Anderson said some crimes are so heinous that the death penalty “is appropriate to pursue.”

“When you sit in a courtroom and you see the anguish of the victim’s surviving family members, they certainly aren’t concerned about their tax dollars going to pursue what we think is a different level of evil in a death penalty case,” Anderson said.

He noted that the four death penalty cases he prosecuted involved the killings of a combined 12 victims.

“How do you put a price tag on 12 dead people?” Anderson asked.

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 In 2024, more than 60 elections took place worldwide, prompting Pew Research Center to describe it as “a year of political disruption.” 

In an analysis, Pew highlighted a few key electoral trends in shaping the political landscape across the globe.

Surge and endurance of right-wing populism 

Over the past decade, right-wing populist movements have gained significant traction in the United States and Europe, causing major shifts in political dynamics. This trend continued in 2024 as populist parties solidified their presence and influence in various countries.

United States 

In the United States, former President Donald Trump triumphed over Vice President Kamala Harris in a high-profile election, further consolidating the populist “Make America Great Again” movement within the Republican Party. This shift has sidelined long-standing Republican figures like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney in favor of a more nationalist agenda. 

The party’s recent electoral victories also mean that Republicans will soon hold all three branches of government: executive, judicial, and legislative. Additionally, Trump’s three Supreme Court appointments from his first term have helped shape its ideological makeup, with the possibility of more appointments in his second term.

France

In France, parties from the left and center joined forces in an attempt to prevent Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, a right-wing populist party, from gaining power. Nevertheless, Le Pen’s party significantly expanded its presence in the National Assembly. In December, the National Rally allied with the left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, to oust conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier after only three months in office.

Austria

Austria witnessed the far-right Freedom Party secure 29% of the vote in September’s elections, resulting in its best-ever performance and surpassing all other parties.

Portugal 

In Portugal, the right-wing Chega party emerged as a significant political force. After winning 50 seats in the March elections—up from just 12 in 2022 and one in 2019—Portugal has been added to the list of European countries with a rising right-wing presence.

Incumbents are unseated in a post-pandemic world

According to the International IDEA, 16 elections in 2024 resulted in party turnover, a 32% rate of change that signals a global trend of unseating incumbents. Economic challenges played a key role in these electoral shifts, with voters in many countries citing economic issues as their primary concern. This was particularly evident in the United States, where the economy was a central issue for voters, especially among Trump supporters.

United States

​​In one of the most high-profile elections of the year, Trump defeated Harris and clinched his second term as president. This marked the third consecutive U.S. presidential election in which the incumbent party lost. Republicans also secured majorities in both houses of Congress.

United Kingdom

In contrast to the United States, the United Kingdom saw a shift to the left, with the Labour Party securing a landslide victory. This ended 14 years of Conservative Party rule and brought about a major political change.

South Korea

In South Korea, the opposition Democratic Party won a majority in the National Assembly in April, effectively checking the power of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s People Power Party. In December, Yoon imposed martial law, accusing Democratic Party leaders of anti-state activities, but the National Assembly swiftly voted to overturn the decision.

Botswana

Botswana’s general election in October marked the end of nearly 58 years of uninterrupted rule by the Democratic Party. The opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) won a majority of the seats in parliament. President Mokgweetsi Masisi of the Democratic Party conceded defeat and committed to supporting the transition to a UDC government led by Duma Boko.

Battle of progress vs. tradition with migration at the center

Pew noted that “the spread of populism has coincided with deepening political divides over culture and identity in many nations,” which was evident as several leaders used a nationalist approach to sway their populace to victory. 

In France, Le Pen and National Rally frequently argue that French culture and civilization must be protected from immigration, particularly from Muslim-majority countries. 

Similar rhetoric was common among Austria’s Freedom Party, Germany’s Alternative for Germany, the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom, and Italy’s Brothers of Italy, all of which frame immigration as a threat to national identity and put it at the center of their campaigns.

Austria’s Freedom Party positioned itself against LGBTQ+ rights, advocating for a constitutional recognition of only two genders and opposing same-sex relationships. These issues were prominent in other 2024 elections as well, reflecting a broader cultural and ideological clash between tradition and progress.

A 2022 Pew survey asked respondents whether they believed that their country would be better off in the future by sticking to its traditions or by embracing changes to those traditions. In 15 of the 16 countries surveyed, there was a notable ideological gap between the right and left. The largest divide was in the United States, where 91% of liberals believed the country would be better off embracing change, compared to just 28% of conservatives.

The United States has especially deep ideological divides, as consistent polling has shown—particularly on the issues of abortion and climate change. And this polarization has grown in past decades, as multiple layers of identity—including race, religion, and ideology—have become increasingly aligned with partisan affiliation. 

This has led to identity-based conflicts, with each side of the political spectrum holding what seems like irreconcilable views on what it means to be an American.

Right now, Daily Kos is falling short of our 2024 goal. Your donations are how we make ends meet. Can you please donate $5 right now so we can close the books on 2024? 

Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 240 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.

As we move into 2025, it’s time to pay homage to some musical artists who said goodbye to this earthly realm in 2024. They sang and played across the spectrum, whether gospel, R&B, disco, doo-wop, folk, blues, or jazz.

We often say in the Black community that our departed have “joined the ancestors.” The blessing we receive is that the gift of their music will be with us forever, until we too join them ourselves.

In January, we lost Marlena Shaw (Sept. 22, 1939–Jan. 19, 2024).

xRest in power, Marlena Shaw.  https://t.co/IoOTFo4Wf2 pic.twitter.com/3ZcxpiB96n— Black Kudos (@blackkudos) September 22, 2024

James M. Manheim wrote Shaw’s biography for Musician Guide.

Marlena Shaw was a stage name, and prior to its creation she went by the names of Marlina Burgess and Marlene Bradshaw. Her introduction to music came from her uncle Jimmy Burgess. Burgess was a jazz trumpeter who performed with pianist Horace Silver and brought his niece on stage to sing during a program at the famed Apollo Theater in New York’s Harlem neighborhood when she was ten. “He introduced me to good music through records—Dizzy [Gillespie], Miles [Davis], a lot of gospel things, and Al Hibbler, who really knows how to phrase a song,” Shaw told the New York Times.

Shaw is probably best remembered for her 1969 cover of “California Soul,” written by Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson and first recorded by The Messengers in 1967.

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But NPR producer Phil Harrell dismisses “California Soul”—in favor of a Shaw song that did not receive popular attention.

The Overlooked Activist Power Of Marlena Shaw

Marlena Shaw is a really extraordinary soul/jazz singer. She was never quite as well-known as she might have been, in part because she was hard to categorize. “California Soul” is a cool song, but its lyrics are kind of ridiculous. They don’t really say anything except for, like, “California’s cool,” “People are in love,” you know? It’s almost insistently and buoyantly banal, particularly when we compare them to the lyrics of “Woman of the Ghetto,” which are really complex and layered and profoundly provocative.

On the one hand, “Woman of the Ghetto” offers a really powerful challenge to these reports that were coming out in the 1960s, often created by white urban sociologists who were talking about the conditions of the ghetto and what was wrong with Black America — often blaming Black people themselves. And Marlena Shaw’s song is remarkable in part because she speaks from the first-person’s perspective and she’s also speaking, significantly, from a woman’s perspective: “I am a woman of the ghetto.” That matters. She’s able to express concerns about domestic issues: How does somebody feed their children? What do you do about the rats that might be crowding in on your domestic space?

Here’s a live version of Shaw’s “Woman of the Ghetto,” recorded at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

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April brought the passing of Arthur Paul Tavares (Nov. 12, 1942-April 15, 2024), from the group Tavares.

xArthur “Pooch” Tavares of New Bedford’s legendary 1970s R&B group Tavares has passed away at the age of 81. https://t.co/LlUEjNH51g pic.twitter.com/9qInMDKHi6— WBSM (@WBSM1420) April 17, 2024

Chris Rizik wrote his obituary for SoulTracks. 

Tavares founding member Arthur “Pooch” Tavares dies after ALS battle

Originally called “Chubby and the Turnpikes,” the Tavares brothers spent the late ’60s and early ’70s in their native New England covering tunes of R&B greats at various clubs, while trying to land a record deal. They finally scored a contract with Capitol Records’ then-new black music division and released their first single, “Check It Out,” in 1973. It soared to the top 10 on the R&B charts and became the group’s first top 40 pop hit. It also became the centerpiece for the their Johnny Bristol-produced debut album, an excellent example of early ’70s Soul that also featured the hit “The Sound That Lonely Makes.” The Check It Out LP gave the first glimpse of tight brotherly harmonies and alternating lead vocals that would become the Tavares trademark sound.

The group’s bio from their website dives into their Cape Verdean roots in Rhode Island:

The seven sons of Feliciano Tavares were born to their calling. John, Ralph, Arthur (nicknamed “Pooch”), Antone (known as “Chubby”), Victor, Feliciano Jr. (called “Butch”) and Perry Lee (as the youngest, dubbed “Tiny”) all received their earliest musical schooling right at home from their dad.

Here are two great performances from Tavares. First, enjoy a live performance of “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel,” from a 1976 episode of the Dutch series “TopPop.”

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The brothers’ also recorded a version of the Bee Gees’ “More Than a Woman.” Both versions can be found in the film “Saturday Night Fever” and on its official soundtrack.

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June brought the news of the passing of Afro-Latina songstress Angela Bofill (May 2, 1954–June 13, 2024).

xRest in Peace Singer #AngelaBofil. The song was best known for her hits. I try, this time I’ll be sweeter, tonight I give in and many more classics.. she had been battling health challenges for many years, including two strokes in 2006 and 2007 Angela Bofill was 70 years old pic.twitter.com/QYxgGZMjfY— 105.3 WDAS (@wdasfm) June 15, 2024

Val Vacaro summarized Bofill’s story for Smooth Jazz Vibes.

Angela Tomasa Bofill was born to a white Cuban father and a black Afro-Latino Puerto Rican mother on May 2, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in the Bronx and in Harlem; she attended high school and college in Manhattan and a university in Connecticut. In an October 2017 interview, Angela Bofill said “My mother once told me that my crying sounded like music!” with her distinctively cheerful chuckle. 

The Washington Post also chronicled her career.

Angela Bofill, R&B balladeer with a dreamy, dynamic voice, dies at 70

Eight of her singles made the R&B Top 40, beginning with her tender version of “This Time I’ll Be Sweeter,” a soul standard by Haras Fyre and Gwen Guthrie. The song was featured on her debut album, “Angie,” along with original compositions such as “Under the Moon and Over the Sky,” an idiosyncratic ode to love and happiness accompanied by strings, flute, electric piano and imitation bird calls.

“Under the Moon” was not exactly commercial, although it attracted fans including New York Daily News columnist Pete Hamill, who was inspired to track down Ms. Bofill for an interview at her family’s home in the West Bronx. Describing the song in his column, he wrote that “the music was a city dream: lyrical and defiant, with the congas rolling through the middle and the sounds of santeria adding a thread of the unearthly. You dream this kind of music on subways.”

I wore out my copy of her “Angie” album, and I agree with Hamill’s description. My favorite track was “Under The Moon And Over the Sky.”

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In July, we lost Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon (Oct. 4, 1942–July 16, 2024), a member of the first class of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s Freedom Singers, a civil rights activist, and the founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock.

xI am sad to learn about Bernice Johnson Reagon’s passing. I was honored to profile her work as founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, which she described as “a Black woman’s voice in the universe” in my 2005 documentary “Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice” for @PBSAmerMasters pic.twitter.com/Sc1Q1hktkl— Stanley Nelson (@StanleyNelson1) July 22, 2024

Reagon is no stranger to “Black Music Sunday” readers; she’s featured both in coverage of the SNCC Freedom Singers as well as her entire career.

One of the first songs I heard by Reagon was her rendition of the gospel hymn “Old Ship of Zion.” It still sends chills up my spine every time I hear it. 

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About a week after Reagon’s passing, July also brought the departure of another major R&B vocalist, Abdul “Duke” Fakir (Dec. 26, 1935–July 22, 2024).

xDuke Fakir (aka Abdul Kareem Fakir) of the last surviving member of the original Four Tops has passed away at age 88. 12/26/1935-7/22/2024🦋May He Rest in Peace🕊️ pic.twitter.com/4yCxxNjmDp— Barbara’s Nostalgia (@nostalgiapix25) July 23, 2024

Jim Farber wrote Fakir’s obituary for The New York Times.

Abdul ‘Duke’ Fakir, Last Living Original Member of The Four Tops, Dies at 88

He sang tenor on hits like “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).”

Abdul Kareem Fakir was born in Detroit on Dec. 26, 1935, to Nazim Ali Fakir, a factory worker who was born in Bangladesh, and Rubyleon Wren, a minister’s daughter from Sparta, Ga., who worked as a domestic and a choir director and played the piano.

At Pershing High School, Duke Fakir excelled at sports; he met [fellow Four Tops member Levi] Stubbs at a neighborhood football game. The pair became good friends as well as musical partners, and they were soon joined by two other local singers, Lawrence Payton and Renaldo Benson, who was known as Obie.

[…]

The group grazed the Top 10 with their first single for Motown in 1964, “Baby I Need Your Loving.” The single remained Mr. Fakir’s favorite. “I thought it was the best song on the radio at the time,” he told the British newspaper The Express. “It changed my life completely. It even enabled me to buy my mama a house!”

Here’s the Four Tops performing Fakir’s fave in 1966.

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In August, we lost doo-wopper and soul singer Maurice Williams (April 26, 1938-Aug. 6, 2024).

xMaurice Williams, the singer/ songwriter whose 1960 single, Stay, recorded with his group, the Zodiacs, died August 6, at 86. The 96-second long single, shot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, & was featured in the 1987 huge hit movie, Dirty Dancing.  Do you know it? #obit #cremstar pic.twitter.com/KTO9Gq99ml— MemoryBox (@memorybox) August 19, 2024

Alex Williams (no relation) wrote Williams’ obituary for The New York Times.

Maurice Williams, 86, Dies; His ‘Stay’ Was a Hit for Him and Four Seasons

A chart topper in 1960 for his doo-wop group the Zodiacs, it inspired popular cover versions and was heard in the 1987 film “Dirty Dancing.”

Maurice Williams, the singer and songwriter whose 1960 single “Stay,” recorded with his doo-wop group the Zodiacs, shot to No. 1 and became a cover-song staple for a long line of musical acts, including the Four Seasons, the Hollies and Jackson Browne, died on Aug. 6 in Charlotte, N.C. He was 86.

[…]

Mr. Williams recalled the origins of “Stay,” his only chart-topping single, in a 2018 video interview. “This young lady I was going with, she was over to my house, and this particular night, her brother was supposed to pick her up at 10,” he said. “So he came, and I said, ‘Well, you can stay a little longer.’ And she said, ‘No, I gotta go.’”

The next morning he woke up and wove that and other snippets from their conversation — “Now, your daddy don’t mind/And your mommy don’t mind” — into song form, building to its indelible signature line, which, seven years later, the Zodiacs’ Henry Gaston would render in a celestial falsetto: “Oh, won’t you stay, just a little bit longer.”

As noted above by the Times, “Stay” was introduced to a new generation through the film “Dirty Dancing.” 

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September was a month to remember with sadness in the R&B world, bringing the loss of both Frankie Beverly and Tito Jackson.

First to depart was Frankie Beverly (Dec. 6, 1946–Sept. 10, 2024).

xHis voice filled our homes, his rhythm filled our hearts. In a heartfelt message, the family of Frankie Beverly announced his passing. From his all white style to his unifying mantra, we salute the legendary Frankie Beverly – an incomparable artist. A job well done. 🤍 pic.twitter.com/lstLXFDEFW— BLACK GIRLS ROCK! (@BLACKGIRLSROCK) September 11, 2024

xA voice that’s united generations, songs that capture the ESSENCE of the Black experience, and a heart that was as pure as Gold as the records we spun. Frankie Beverly’s artistry wasn’t just about sound; it was the very thread that stitched together our collective memories and… pic.twitter.com/pY4N6wNj5v— ESSENCE (@Essence) September 11, 2024

From Beverly’s obituary in the Associated Press:

Frankie Beverly, the Maze singer who inspired generations of fans with lasting anthems, dies at 77

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Frankie Beverly, who with his band Maze inspired generations of fans with his smooth, soulful voice and lasting anthems including “Before I Let Go,” has died. He was 77.

[…]

Beverly, whose songs include “Joy and Pain,” “Love is the Key,” and “Southern Girl,” finished his farewell “I Wanna Thank You Tour” in his hometown of Philadelphia in July. That same month, the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans included a special tribute to Beverly and Maze, who closed out the event for its first 15 years. His performances at the festival — the nation’s largest annual celebration of Black culture — would turn the crowd into a sea of dancing fans, many wearing white clothing like Beverly himself often donned.

Here’s a 1986 performance of “Joy and Pain” in Los Angeles.

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Just a few days after Beverly’s passing, we lost Tito Jackson (Oct. 15, 1953–Sept. 15, 2024).

xTito Jackson’s love for music was greater than his fear of his father, which drove him to become a SELF-TAUGHT guitarist and that led to the creation of the Jackson 5, reshaping music and pop culture forever 👑#ThankYouTitoJackson pic.twitter.com/pNBHjDjYIh— 𝓥𝓮𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓪💫 | MJ fan (@iamveronica777) September 16, 2024

From his website:

Born Toriano Adaryll Jackson, Tito has spent his entire life enchanting music lovers with soulful harmonies interwoven with curvaceous rhythms as a member of Motown’s greatest discovery, The Jackson 5, and presently as a multi-faceted solo artist. Tito’s unyielding passion for blues, R&B, pop, and other music forms is the secret to his boundless energy and rare achievements in the ever-changing entertainment spectrum.

In 1962, before the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons, Tito performed in a local group called The Jackson Brothers. After competing and winning local talent shows in and around Gary, the precocious brothers were victorious again on the most prestigious amateur stage of all — Manhattan’s Apollo Theater. In that same year Tito and his brothers made their first studio recording (local label), titled “Big Boy.” Not only did it turn out to be a local hit, but it set the stage for a partnership with Motown Records (1969) and subsequent appearances on the top-rated Ed Sullivan Show, American Bandstand, Soul Train, and later, their own primetime television series in 1976, on CBS. In addition to this, Tito and his brothers’ soaring popularity with America’s youth was so captivating that they were captioned in a Saturday morning, ABC TV animation series.

Jackson’s 2021 song, “Love One Another,” features dozens of members of the Jackson clan.

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October marked the passing of Cissy Houston, who was born Emily Drinkard (Sept. 30, 1933–Oct. 7, 2024).

K. Michelle Moran wrote her Musician Guide biography.

The youngest of the eight children born to factory worker Nitch and homemaker Delia Drinkard, Cissy Houston started singing as a child. As a five-year-old, she began singing with siblings Anne, Nicky, and Larry in the family gospel act the Drinkard Singers in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Houston and nieces Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick who were also Drinkard Singers for a time later sang backing vocals for the likes of Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke, among others.

From 1965 to 1970, Houston was the lead vocalist for the pop group Sweet Inspirations, which she formed with Sylvia Sherwell, Myrna Smith, and Estelle Brown. The group performed on hundreds of songs for other artists, including Neil Diamond, Aretha Franklin, and Elvis Presley before recording on its own. In 1968, the group released its only two albums Sweet Inspirations and What the World Needs Now is Love and earned a top 20 hit and a Grammy nomination with the single “Sweet Inspiration.” Houston soon left for a solo career, however, while her former bandmates continued as backup vocalists for other artists.

Here’s Houston with “Sweet Inspiration” in 1968.

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This undated video shows Houston singing with her fellow congregants at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey:

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Houston’s “going home” ceremony was held in the same church.  

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In November, we lost both Quincy Jones (March 14, 1933–Nov. 3, 2024), and Roy Haynes (March 13, 1925–Nov. 12, 2024).

Their careers were covered in “Black Music Sunday: Remembering the late, great Quincy Jones” and “Black Music Sunday: Thank you, Roy Haynes,” respectively.

I hope you will join me in the comments to share some of your favorite songs and memories of these artists, and others we lost this year.

May they all rest in peace and power after lifetimes of making music that will outlive us all.

Wishing you all the best in 2025.

Thank you to the Daily Kos community who continues to fight so hard with Daily Kos. Your reader support means everything. We will continue to have you covered and keep you informed, so please donate just $3 to help support the work we do.

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Billionaire conservative donor Elon Musk called on the public to stop donating to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, due to the organization’s support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

“Stop donating to Wokepedia until they restore balance to their editing authority,” Musk wrote on X, responding to a post from the anti-trans account Libs of TikTok noting that the foundation spent $50 million of its $177 million budget on DEI.

A spokesperson for Wikipedia explained to Newsweek that its investment in diversity is meant to make the digital encyclopedia more accurate.

“Wikipedia is built on the premise that it becomes better when more people of different backgrounds—including political persuasions—source, edit, curate, and research content. Our equity goal advances that,” they said.

For years now, particularly in the wake of protests following the murder of George Floyd, conservatives have attacked DEI efforts. The right’s complaints against Wikipedia are also reflective of the longstanding conservative desire to control information.

Comedian Stephen Colbert once mocked the right (and then-President George W. Bush) during a speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, saying that “reality has a well-known liberal bias.” Conservatives have taken this idea to heart and have tried to bend reality to fit their own worldview.

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Musk has been a part of this conservative crusade since spending billions to acquire Twitter, now known as X. Musk removed many of the societal guardrails that had been put in place by Twitter’s previous management, and the site has become arguably the biggest spreader of political misinformation in the world. The lies and false information spread across X contributed to an election win for Musk’s favored candidate, Donald Trump.

X’s role as a disinformation amplifier echoes another, older conservative project: Fox News. The network was created by former Republican operative Roger Ailes and conservative media tycoon Rupert Murdoch to change the narrative and amplify the right’s myths, lies, and political attacks. Fox was at the forefront of misinforming millions of Americans about the outcome of the 2020 election—resulting in a nearly $800 million settlement—as well as the January 6 insurrection in the U.S. Capitol.

Wikipedia’s influence runs counter to the likes of Musk’s X and Fox News. While the encyclopedia has faults, it plays a prominent role in providing accurate, up-to-date information. On Wikipedia, the public can learn about public figures like Musk, including his history of promoting conspiracy theories, racism, and anti-transgender bigotry.

The right has tried to counteract Wikipedia’s influence before. The site Conservapedia was launched in 2006 as a right-wing alternative. The entries on the site are extremely biased and riddled with factual inaccuracies. 

For example, this entry on former President Barack Obama claims that “Obama transformed the Bush administration War on Terror from a preventative measure against terrorism to a cry for vengeance, mob bloodlust, and retribution killings which spawned a fresh, new, and larger cycle of violence.” The site never gained popularity.

Conservatives believe that sources of information must reflect a conservative worldview rather than objective reality, which is why Trump has gone after news outlets like ABC News and The New York Times for not repeating right-wing propaganda. Even though many of these outlets have promoted conservative narratives and buckled under right-wing criticism and legal threats, it still isn’t enough for Trump.

Now Wikipedia is under fire for promoting facts instead of right-wing talking points, further proving that conservatives believe everything must bend to their will—even the encyclopedia.

Thank you to the Daily Kos community who continues to fight so hard with Daily Kos. Your reader support means everything. We will continue to have you covered and keep you informed, so please donate just $3 to help support the work we do.

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The U.S. Justice Department is suing pharmacy giant CVS, accusing it of putting profits over patient safety and thus fueling the opioid crisis.

by  Marty Schladen, for Ohio Capital Journal

The accusations bear similarities to violations for which the Ohio Board of Pharmacy last year fined the company, and the DOJ complaint cites some of board’s findings in its suit.

The complaint was unsealed last week in Providence, R.I.

In essence, it accuses CVS of understaffing its pharmacies to such an extent that pharmacists and technicians could not ensure they were filling opioid prescriptions properly. Additionally, it accuses CVS of even graver conduct.

“CVS also allegedly filled large quantities of prescriptions for controlled substances written by prescribers it knew to be engaged in ‘pill mill practices’ — that is, prescribers who issue large numbers of controlled substance prescriptions without any medical purpose,” a statement announcing the lawsuit said. “According to the complaint, CVS ignored substantial evidence from multiple sources, including its own pharmacists and internal data, indicating that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions.”

Particularly notorious pill mills were located in and around Portsmouth, Ohio, in a region that was particularly hard hit by the opioid epidemic.

The CVS Pharmacy logo is displayed on a store

In a statement, CVS said it has already worked law enforcement on opioids.

“We have cooperated with the DOJ’s investigation for more than four years, and we strongly disagree with the allegations and false narrative within this complaint,” it said. “We will defend ourselves vigorously against this misguided federal lawsuit, which follows on the heels of years of litigation over these issues by state and local governments—claims that already have been largely resolved by a global agreement with the participating state Attorneys General.”

CVS added that it has taken extensive action to stop overprescription of opioids.

“CVS Health has been an industry leader in developing innovative programs to fight opioid misuse,” the statement said. “As one example, 12 years ago CVS Pharmacy pioneered a first-of-its-kind program to block controlled-substance prescriptions written by doctors of potential concern. To date, we have blocked more than 1,250 practitioners, including nearly 600 prescribers who the government continues to license. This program is not required by any statute or regulation, and CVS Health repeatedly has defended lawsuits from those alleging we go too far in blocking opioid prescribers. “

However, the Justice Department is accusing CVS of not wanting to spend enough money to staff its pharmacies adequately to operate safely. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy concluded the same thing in February, when it fined the company $250,000, placed a CVS store in Canton on indefinite probation and imposed sweeping new rules in an attempt to ensure adequate staffing. CVS later paid $1.25 million in fines to settle violations the Board of Pharmacy said it found at 22 Ohio CVS stores.

Inspection reports from those stores described waits as long as a month to fill prescriptions, expired and adulterated drugs on shelves and a lack of controls as hundreds of doses of opioids such as oxycodone and hydromorphone went missing. Current and former CVS employees told the Capital Journal that upper management didn’t listen when pharmacy workers pleaded for extra help. They added that the problems weren’t limited to CVS’s Ohio stores.

The Justice Department suit cited the Ohio findings and leveled similar charges.

“The complaint alleges that CVS’ violations resulted from corporate-mandated performance metrics, incentive compensation, and staffing policies that prioritized corporate profits over patient safety,” it said in the statement announcing the suit. “CVS set staffing levels far too low for pharmacists to both meet their performance metrics and comply with their legal obligations. CVS also allegedly deprived its pharmacists of crucial information (including, for example, by preventing pharmacists from warning one another about certain prescribers) that could have reduced the number of unlawful prescriptions filled. The complaint alleges that CVS’ actions helped to fuel the opioid crisis and that, in some particularly tragic instances, patients died after overdosing on opioids shortly after filling unlawful prescriptions at CVS.”

The suit was brought as a result of a whistleblower complaint by a former employee. Under federal law, whistleblowers are entitled to a share of the money recovered in such suits.

Among its demands, the Justice Department suit asks for triple damages, other financial penalties and a permanent injunction requiring it to dispense opioids in accordance with its legal obligations.

Campaign Action

A new law is meant to help local governments speed up the building and placement of small, portable houses.

by Mark Kreidler, for Capital and Main

California’s affordable housing crisis exists on many levels. It crosses the political spectrum and, too often, involves the kinds of staggering cost estimates that can make it feel impossible to solve.

But a new law represents one small step down that road — and at the very ground level.

Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, the law extends for more than a decade a process through which local governments can streamline and speed the construction and placement of so-called tiny homes within their communities. This interim housing — prefabricated, portable and very basic — has already been successfully used in San Jose and other cities to move more homeless people off the street and into shelter.

“Interim housing is the missing rung on the ladder to permanent housing,” the bill’s author, state Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), said earlier this year. “The [bill] takes a proven local housing strategy and makes it available statewide, giving local governments a new tool to address the homelessness and housing crises.”

Dignity Moves, a Northern California nonprofit that has partnered with several communities on such projects, uses private money to construct these living modules, relying on the same building codes that FEMA employs to respond to natural disasters. That allows for above-ground utilities, smaller room sizes and no underground permanent foundations, among other things.

The units can be forklifted to one area and later moved to another, depending upon where available land sits. Using this approach, the city of San Jose has built hundreds of units of temporary but individual housing, with plans to do more. Matt Mahan, the city’s mayor, said last year that San Jose’s unsheltered population had dropped by 10%since 2022.

“It certainly does a lot of things that make it a cost-benefit payoff in spades,” said Elizabeth Funk, founder and CEO of Dignity Moves, who estimated the cost of each tiny home at $50,000, compared with state estimates of more than $800,000 to build units of affordable housing. “The cost of leaving someone on the street is twice what it is to get them indoors in treatment and perhaps returning to self-sufficiency. That seems very logical, and yet it has been contrary to policy.”

The law is one of several 2024 pieces of legislation that may directly affect the state of inequality in California. Among others:

Eviction Protection. Under previous statute, tenants who received an eviction notice from their landlord had five business days to respond — and if they didn’t respond in that time, they automatically lost their case. The new law, authored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), doubles that period to 10 business days. The extra time, housing advocates say, will give tenants the opportunity to figure out their options and get help, including legal aid. That could be critical for those who don’t speak English as a first language and may not initially understand the seriousness of the notice they’ve been given.

Family Leave and Time Off. Two bills signed by Newsom will provide workers with a greater ability to access leave. In the past, employers could make workers burn two weeks of paid vacation time before accessing the state’s Paid Family Leave program, which provides up to eight weeks of partial pay to take time off for things like family emergencies and bonding with a new child. Employers are no longer allowed to enforce such a requirement. Another law, meanwhile, requires employers to provide time off to victims of “qualifying acts of violence,” including domestic abuse and sexual assault, regardless of whether anyone is charged or convicted in connection with the case.

Medical Debt and Credit Reports. A handful of states do not allow credit reporting agencies to include a person’s medical debt as part of their evaluation. California will join them in 2025. The new law specifically prohibits the agencies from including debt that people owe directly to a medical provider, such as a hospital or doctor. (It doesn’t cover medical debt that was charged to a credit card.) According to the California Health Care Foundation, one in three Californians reported carrying medical debt in 2023. Almost 50% of Latino residents of the state had such debt.

No Mandatory Anti-Union Meetings. Amid a recent surge in union activity up and down the state, a new law bans mandatory workplace meetings — commonly known as “captive audience” meetings — at which employers opine on “religious or political matters.” It’s aimed directly at the longstanding practice by some employers of making workers gather for the purpose of telling them why unionizing would be a mistake. Also, workers cannot be retaliated against for refusing to attend such meetings.

Minimum Wage. It’s not a new law, but under the existing formula that accounts for inflation adjustment, the statewide minimum hourly wage will rise to $16.50 in the new year. (A measure to raise the minimum to $18 by 2026 failed narrowly in November.) Fast-food workers in most settings have already seen their minimum wage rise to $20, while workers in several health care settings have begun receiving raises that are designed to reach $25 per hour over a number of years. Across California as a whole, it’s estimated that a single adult with no children would need to earn more than $27 an hour just to meet basic needs.

Copyright 2024 Capital & Main

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Taylor Cagnacci moved from California to Tennessee with hopes of starting a new chapter in a state that touts a low cost of living and natural beauty.

But she’s infuriated by Tennessee’s meager social services, which leave her and many other moms struggling in a state where abortion is banned with limited exceptions.

“I was going to have my child no matter what, but for other women, that’s kind of a crappy situation that they put you in,” said Cagnacci, a 29-year-old Kingsport mom who relies on Medicaid and a federally funded nutrition program. “You have to have your child. But where’s the assistance afterward?”

Tennessee has a porous safety net for mothers and young children, recent research and an analysis by The Associated Press found. It’s unknown how many women in the state have given birth because they didn’t have access to abortion, but it is clear that from the time a Tennessee woman gets pregnant, she faces greater obstacles to a healthy pregnancy, a healthy child and a financially stable family than the average American mom.

Like other states with strict abortion bans, Tennesseans of childbearing age are more likely to live in maternal care deserts and face overall doctor shortages. Women, infants and children are less likely to be enrolled in a government nutrition program known as WIC. And Tennessee is one of only 10 states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid to a greater share of low-income families.

“It’s survival, every day,” said Janie Busbee, founder of Mother to Mother, a Nashville-based nonprofit providing baby supplies for low-income moms. “If we took some of that stress off of them, then maybe they’d have time to dream.”

GOP state leaders in Tennessee and other states that banned abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 argue that they are bolstering services for families.

Tennessee boosted its Medicaid coverage for mothers in 2022 from 60 days postpartum to a year, which allowed an additional 3,000 moms to use the program each year.

The state also raised the Medicaid income limit for parents to the poverty level — nearly $26,000 for a family of three — and offers recipients 100 free diapers a month for babies under 2. According to the governor’s office, these changes have resulted in thousands of new parents accessing government services.

“Pro-life is much more than defending the lives of the unborn,” Republican Gov. Bill Lee said in his 2023 annual address to lawmakers and echoed more recently on social media. “This is not a matter of politics. This is about human dignity.”

Yet, nonprofit leaders and mothers told the AP there are still significant gaps in the safety net.

Anika Chillis, a 39-year-old single mom in Memphis, has Medicaid, WIC and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps). While she’s deeply grateful for the help, she said it also can disappear — like when she temporarily lost WIC.

“It’s hard,” she said, sitting on a park bench as her 2-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter played nearby. “Groceries are constantly going up.” And being a single mom “makes it doubly hard on you.”

Anika Chillis spends time with her children, Makhi 2, and Myla 9, at a playground Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. 

Medicaid and health care challenges

Tennessee fared poorly at WIC enrollment, Medicaid, having enough maternal care and requirements for paid family and medical leave, an October study found.

Other states with similarly restrictive abortion laws — such as Idaho, Alabama, Missouri, Georgia and Mississippi — ranked poorly on numerous measures, too. Researchers said restrictive states had a slightly higher average birth rate and a much lower average abortion rate than the least restrictive states.

“In general, these states that restrict abortion are the more fiscally conservative, the more socially conservative states,” said Dr. Nigel Madden, lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The Republican supermajority in the Tennessee legislature has long rebuffed efforts to expand Medicaid to people earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level — about $35,600 for a family of three. And TennCare faces criticism already, with a federal judge ruling earlier this year that the state unlawfully terminated coverage for thousands of families and had a “lethargic” response to nearly 250,000 children losing coverage because of paperwork problems caused by the state.

DiJuana Davis, 44, was among the plaintiffs. In 2019, the Nashville resident was supposed to have surgery to prevent pregnancy and ease her chronic anemia. Days before the procedure, she was informed her Medicaid coverage had been cut off and the hospital was canceling.

She later found out her renewal paperwork went to the wrong address, an error that left her uninsured for two months — during which she became pregnant and developed preeclampsia. Doctors induced labor to save her life, and her son was born prematurely.

“The system is broken,” she said, “and it needs to be fixed.”

More than 3% of the 83,000 babies born in Tennessee in 2023 had mothers who didn’t receive prenatal care. Only seven states had a higher share, according to an AP analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After birth, doctor shortages impede ongoing care. Around a third of Tennesseans live in a primary care shortage area — a greater share than in all but 10 other states — according to an AP analysis of data from the Census Bureau and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Food and diaper programs

Moms described several aid programs as frustrating to navigate. Chillis was on WIC for several months after her son was born, but then went without because of a mistake during the renewal process — eventually getting it restored with help from the nonprofit Tennessee Justice Center.

Chillis credits a nonprofit preschool provider with linking her to aid programs in the first place: “I don’t see a lot of advertisements about, you know, how you can join this program or go get this” service, she said. “People just don’t have the knowledge.”

Cagnacci, who is pregnant and has a 1-year-old, said she was on SNAP for a while but missed an appointment and was unclear about the steps after that. The process to get recertified was “such a headache” that she’s going without it.

“I just felt like it was purposely being made difficult so that I would just give up,” she said.

Tatayanna Johnson carries a box of diapers from the Pharmalife Community Pharmacy on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Johnson participates in the state’s TennCare Diaper Benefit, which provides free diapers for children under the age of two.

Women with young children in states where abortion is banned or limited to early weeks of pregnancy said it can be tough to get social services there, according to a survey by the health policy research organization KFF. Nearly half said it’s difficult for women in their state to get food stamps, for example, compared with 3 in 10 in states where abortion is generally available.

“People who claim to be pro-life, who advocated for these abortion bans, often suggest that these policies are designed to protect children, women and families,” said Madden, the researcher. But the weakness of the safety net shows “the hypocrisy of that argument.”

Tennessee’s new diaper program shows the deep political divisions surrounding aid programs. The Republican governor described it as an effort to strengthen families while Democratic state Sen. London Lamar said GOP leaders are “trying to put a little bow on an abortion ban.” And GOP state Sen. Mark Pody recently told the right-leaning news website Tennessee Conservative that “it is not the state’s responsibility to have a diaper for every single baby” and floated the possibility of cutting the program.

Charities struggle to fill gaps

Of Tennessee’s 2.8 million households, 30% earn above the poverty level but not enough to afford the basic cost of living in their counties, according to a recent report. Often, they don’t qualify for government help.

“Some are working three jobs and still can’t survive,” said Busbee, of Mother to Mother.

A fragmented patchwork of charities can help, but they don’t cover the entire state. The Nashville Diaper Connection, for example, serves 30 counties, working with partners to provide 50 diapers a month, mostly to working families who make a bit too much for Medicaid. Other nonprofits are hindered in helping by government agencies’ income rules. And most charities are constrained by the ebb and flow of donations.

Nonprofit leaders fear their job may get harder with a new administration in Washington and a GOP-controlled Congress. Republicans could seek significant changes to federal assistance programs they’ve long criticized, like Medicaid and food stamps.

“We’ve been through four years of a Trump administration, and the goal under the Trump administration was to cut social services,” said Signe Anderson, the justice center’s senior director of nutrition advocacy. “I’m concerned … for families in Tennessee and across the country.”