Archive
In OtherWords: April 13, 2016
This week in OtherWords, Libero Della Piana shines a light on a form of voter suppression that afflicts formerly incarcerated people and Aaron Mair urges voters to pay close attention to what candidates say about climate change this electoral cycle. If you haven’t...
Free From Jail, Imprisoned by Debt
At 36, Marcus White has spent half of his life in prison. Today he's no longer behind bars, but now he's imprisoned by something else: debt. When White was sentenced, he was saddled with $5,800 in criminal fines and fees. By the time he was released, he was stunned to...
This Election, We Can’t Afford to Ignore the Climate
Our great coastal cities could be flooded within the lifetime of children born today. That's the conclusion of researchers studying the West Antarctic ice sheet — a mass of ice larger than Mexico that could rapidly break apart over the next century. Meanwhile, our...
Most Racism Is Mundane
This spring, the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus has been the site of several heinous acts of racism: An Asian student was spat on and a black student received a note with obscenities and racial slurs slipped under her door. The university is, of course, taking...
These Billboards Have Eyes
OK people, we need to discuss billboards. Yes, we really must. At best, these giant corporate placards are problematic — they loom garishly over us, clutter our landscapes, and intrude into our communities with no respect for local aesthetics or preferences. Now,...
When the Media Feed from Trump’s Trough
In OtherWords: April 6, 2016
This week in OtherWords, Sarah Anderson explains the rationale for levying a tiny tax on financial transactions and Jim Hightower pokes fun at the GOP establishment for thinking that making Paul Ryan the Republican presidential nominee constitutes a winning strategy....
Wall Street Should Pay a Sales Tax, Too
In case there was any doubt, the presidential election fight has confirmed that blasting Wall Street, even eight years after the financial crisis, is still a vote-getter. Hillary Clinton has said she’d like to jail more bankers. Donald Trump has skewered the hedge...
Give “Tax and Spend” a Chance
This time of year, a whole lot of Americans are feeling taxed enough already. But the astonishing momentum of Bernie Sanders’s presidential candidacy reveals something else: Millions of taxpayers are willing to entertain the idea that some of us aren’t taxed enough,...
The United States of Flint
The horrible, preventable crisis in Flint, Michigan shows that when the government shortchanges our infrastructure, people pay the price. Flint has become a living hell for its residents. The water is brown, poisoned with lead, and too corrosive to use on skin or...
