Archive
Calling Working People of All Colors
A little over 80 years ago, NAACP founder W.E.B. Du Bois wrote "Black Reconstruction in America," a groundbreaking essay that looked at the racial politics of the post-Civil War years. The major failure of those years, Du Bois insisted, was that poor whites and poor...
The Dangers of Big Philanthropy
It's the season of giving. When you hear about a billionaire "giving back" — like Nike founder Phil Knight's $400 million gift to Stanford, or hedge funder John Paulsen's $400 million donation to Harvard — do you feel a warm glow? They could've kept their money and...
Crony Capitalism Made Rick Perry Our Energy Secretary
Rick Perry has taken quite a tumble since being governor of Texas. He was a twice-failed GOP presidential wannabe and then ended up being a rejected contestant on Dancing with the Stars, the television show for has-been celebrities. But now, having kissed the ring of...
Russian Influence? Nyet!
The Year of ‘Post-Truth’
"Post-Truth." The Oxford English Dictionary named this its word of the year for 2016. This was a year when campaign lies — most, though not all, coming out of the Donald's mouth — were so numerous that fact checking became nearly impossible. Yes, each individual...
In OtherWords: December 14, 2016
America's post-election hangover took a major turn for the dramatic this past week, when sources told the Washington Post that the CIA believes Russia intervened in the vote to help Donald Trump. The jury's still out on the truth of the matter, but this week in...
Foreign Meddling in Our Vote? Remember How This Feels.
Even in an election year as shot through with conspiracy theories as this one, it would have been hard to imagine a bigger bombshell than Russia intervening to help Donald Trump. But that’s exactly what the CIA believes happened, or so unnamed “officials brief on the...
The Pentagon’s $125 Billion Cover-up
Let’s say you ask somebody a question. They give you an answer you don’t like, so you pretend you didn’t hear it. Probably all of us would cop to something like this at some time in our imperfect pasts. For most of us though, that pretending hasn't included trying to...
This Man May Be Trump’s Most Dangerous Cabinet Pick
President-elect Donald Trump recently picked Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as his nominee for U.S. attorney general, a position that leads the Department of Justice and serves as the top law enforcement officer for the country. But even a cursory look at Sessions’...
Draining the Swamp: A How-To Guide
When President-elect Donald Trump talked about "draining the swamp," it evoked the way Bernie Sanders talks about how the system is rigged. Many Americans believe — with good reason — that powerful corporate lobbyists, elites, and other moneyed interests control the...
