Archive
What the GOP’s Supreme Obstruction Means for Women
Senators, constitutional scholars may tell you, must "advise and consent" on the president’s Supreme Court nominees. But apparently the official GOP policy is to "refuse and obstruct." They’ve vowed not even to give President Obama’s nominees a vote. These Republicans...
Your Tax Dollars Enable Police Brutality Abroad
Ever since the Black Lives Matter movement exploded into the headlines, violence by American police officers has come under fire from activists and ordinary citizens alike. Less discussed, however, is how the U.S. government winks at the police brutality of its client...
What Are Trump’s Values — and America’s?
A man who proclaims he’d like to punch a protester in the face — as Donald Trump did recently in Nevada — isn’t fit to serve as the president of the United States. That’s the first thing that must be said. Fit to be führer of Germany in 1933, yes. But not president of...
Trump’s America: A Shining Outhouse on a Hill
When Donald Trump announced he was running for president, I mocked him. “Of the United States?” I asked. (I got a C- in Mockery when I was in college, unfortunately.) When he jumped into the lead almost immediately, I laughed. “The higher the climb, the harder the...
Requiem for a Wrecking Ball
Aubrey McClendon’s 2013 Chevy Tahoe ignited after he slammed into an Oklahoma City overpass at high speed. Flames charred the brazen oil and gas executive’s body so badly that medical experts relied on dental records to verify that he'd died. One day before McClendon...
Torching the Truth
America’s military adventures — and, just as often, its misadventures — have inspired thousands upon thousands of books. But the military isn’t just in the business of inspiring books: Sometimes it bans them, too. The Pentagon recently announced that it was refusing...
Toxic Teflon
Teflon, you might have heard, may cause cancer. The culprit was a toxic, now retired compound called PFOA. Also known as C8, the chemical became the subject of a major lawsuit accusing DuPont — the manufacturer of the popular nonstick coating — of sickening thousands...
There Are No Words Left for the GOP Charade
Help! We political wordsmiths are in urgent need of assistance from lexicologists. The Republican presidential primary has gone so far out, so beyond accepted boundaries of civic and civil behavior, that we've run out of words to describe the extreme weirdness. Words...
Clear-Cut Paternity Case
What Are We Paying Mitch McConnell For?
Why should you and I have to keep paying Mitch McConnell's salary? The Kentucky Republican is the Senate majority leader, but he doesn't lead much. In fact, he really doesn't do much of anything. McConnell says “no” to every task at hand. Repair and replace the...
