Archive
Not Even Robert E. Lee Wanted Confederate Monuments
While our president's moral character seems stuck somewhere between boorish and brutish, it's only fair to note that he also has an aesthetic dimension. This surprising side of Trump popped out several days after the Charlottesville attacks by raging white...
America’s Whitest Sheriff
In OtherWords: August 23, 2017
Last week's Charlottesville debacle concluded with a major development for the Trump administration: the exit of chief strategist Steve Bannon, a longtime lightning rod for the White House on race issues. In this he was only the latest Trump confederate to get the ax,...
Stop the Buzz Killing Beer Barons!
Next time you reach for a cold beer on a hot summer day, you'll have some uninvited drinking buddies: the beer barons. Two conglomerates now control 90 percent of U.S. beer production. They use their power to raise prices, squeeze out small brewers, and limit your...
Lessons on North Korea from the Cuban Missile Crisis
Nearly 55 years ago, in October 1962, I was a college student who'd just turned 20. The Cuban Missile Crisis began the day after my birthday, and it seemed entirely possible that I (along with tens of millions of other people) might die in nuclear fire and fury before...
Trump’s Running Out of Friends, and It’s His Own Fault
I hate to say this, but I'm starting to feel sorry for Donald Trump. He's only been in office for half a year, and already he's running out of Americans to attack. Of course, he came into office already having notched his AK-47 Twitter rifle with hundreds of hits on...
The President Is Removing Litter Protections from National Parks
By most measures Trump's had an ineffective presidency. If you oppose his agenda, as I do, this is no doubt a good thing. Like countless others, I rely on Obamacare for my health insurance. I sleep soundly at night only because Trump and congressional Republicans...
With Friends Like These
In OtherWords: August 16, 2017
This week in OtherWords, we look at the fallout from the white nationalist violence Charlottesville. That march was a product of fear, says Olivia Alperstein — fear by a few white racists that the rights of others somehow diminish their own. And it's proof, Jessicah...
No, Affirmative Action Isn’t Keeping White Students Down
There's a saying: "When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression." I thought of that when I heard about the Trump administration's recent moves against affirmative action. According to The New York Times, the Department of Justice, led by...
