Can progressive Muslims and atheists actually find ways to work together? Some of my atheist comrades may disagree with me, but I think so. Of course we may diverge on whether a God exists, or if there is an afterlife, but when it comes to this world and the problems humans face, our tribes have much we agree on. And our agreements are not petty or tangential. They are sources of energy that can be harnessed for a much needed change.

So what do we agree on? Well besides opposing theocracy, blasphemy laws, and Bronze-age ethics, we promote human rights, freedom of conscience, separation of Mosque and State, education, and compassion.

The unfolding story is in many ways a sequel to the events that led to Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Once again, the plot involves foreign influence in an election and is centered in the post-Soviet sphere.
Only one day before Mr. Trump spoke to Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Mueller had testified to Congress about how the Russians had tried to help elect Mr. Trump by organizing the theft and release of emails damaging to his opponent. In that case, the Russians were the pursuers who sought contacts with Mr. Trump’s campaign.

Now the president and his minions were the aggressors, seeking help with the 2020 re-election effort. They asked the Ukrainians to investigate unfounded allegations about former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., one of Mr. Trump’s leading Democratic rivals, as well as to chase a conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had intervened in 2016.

NBC News reported, “When Trump arrived in the White House in 2017, there were 241 Republicans at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in the House of Representatives. Today, 100 of them have gone or have announced that they are leaving. That’s 41 percent of that original 241 in the 115th House.
To be clear, that’s not congressional seats lost; that’s a measure of actual people, the personalities that once roamed the halls of Congress that aren’t there anymore.

Outside of a trip to Alabama, Trump has been booed and faced chants of lock him up anytime he shows his face in public. Trump has increased his public appearances as he appears to be trying to demonstrate his popularity. The plan is backfiring, because every time Trump shows up in front of a non-handpicked audience, or outside of a red state, the eagerness of a majority of Americans to get him out of office is confirmed.
The more Trump appears in public the more popular impeachment becomes.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday became the second U.S. lawmaker to join the growing chorus of voices across the globe who are condemning the resignation of Bolivia's socialist President Evo Morales as a "coup."

As Common Dreams reported earlier Monday, "Morales was forced to resign Sunday under threat from the nation's military, police forces, and violent right-wing protestors." The resignation followed Morales' announcement that he would hold new elections after the U.S.-dominated Organization of American States (OAS) questioned his October victory.

Ocasio-Cortez, a freshman Democrat from New York, tweeted in both Spanish and English Monday afternoon, "What's happening right now in Bolivia isn't democracy, it's a coup."

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday became the first 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to speak out against Sunday's military coup in Bolivia which saw that country's President Evo Morales forced to resign before going into hiding.
"I am very concerned about what appears to be a coup in Bolivia, where the military, after weeks of political unrest, intervened to remove President Evo Morales," Sanders tweeted. "The U.S. must call for an end to violence and support Bolivia's democratic institutions."

As Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is also running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, pointed out on Twitter, Gates' fortune is valued at roughly $106.8 billion, leaving $6.8 billion after the hypothetical tax hit.
"Say Bill Gates was actually taxed $100 billion," said Sanders. "We could end homelessness and provide safe drinking water to everyone in this country. Bill would still be a multibillionaire."

For more than a decade, Rizwan Mawani has been living, working and praying with Muslims in 50 different communities across 17 countries. As you’d expect, he has visited plenty of masjids, as mosques are called in Arabic, meaning “a place of prostration.”

Rizwan Mawani. Courtesy photo
But Mawani, a 45-year-old Canadian scholar and research consultant, whose new book is called “Beyond the Mosque: Diverse Spaces of Muslim Worship,” also spent time in Sufi khanaqas, Shia husayniyyas, Druze khalwas, Ismaili jamatkhanas as well as religious schools known as madrasas and other spaces of Islamic devotion from Canada to China.
Mawani uses these varied sacred spaces as lenses through which to offer readers a primer on the expansive histories, varied architectures and evolving ritual practices of Muslims around the world.