Archive
Urban America’s Slow-Motion Crisis
Baltimore, my hometown, is facing its highest rate of homicides in decades. Along with other cities that are reporting higher than usual violent crime rates this summer, Baltimore’s murder rate is up by 33 percent this year. It’s a terrible reminder that the violence...
The Insult Generator
It’s apology season on the campaign trail. After months of botched damage control, Hillary Clinton did what she needed to do when her bureaucratic scandal first erupted. The leading Democratic presidential candidate said she was sorry she didn’t use an official...
The GOP Agenda (Or Lack Thereof)
To hear Republican presidential candidates tell it, you’d think the most important issue facing the nation is Hillary Clinton’s old emails. Not climate change, not the growing gap between the filthy rich and the deserving poor, and not our crumbling roads, declining...
Mitch McConnell’s War on Iran — and Boeing?
Republicans in Congress may have failed to stop the landmark nuclear accord with Iran, but that doesn’t mean they’ve finished bloviating. As the news came in that President Barack Obama had secured enough votes to override any objections to the deal from Congress,...
Chicken Disneyland
McDonald’s made headlines recently by announcing it will transition to cage-free eggs by 2025. Hooray: You can feel better about eating that Egg McMuffin. Or at least you can a decade from now. Less than 1 percent of the fast food giant's eggs currently come from...
Chicago’s Taxpayer-Funded Ode to Robber Barons
History, as the old adage goes, is written by the winners. Even though many "winners" are losers as human beings. For a clear example of this irony, check out the new national monument to corporate greed created by our Park Service in Chicago. It's on the site of what...
The Debate Dividing the GOP
The Go-to Guy for Corporate Moochers
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says he should be America's next president because he's a proven budget whacker. And yes, by golly, he’s dressed down teachers, slashed funding for higher education, busted unions, and gone after welfare recipients. He's the Koch...
In OtherWords: September 9, 2015
This week in OtherWords, Donald Kaul summons a Guys and Dolls scene to explain the stock market’s oscillations and John Kiriakou relays what happened when he accidentally drank beer with Elon Musk. Do you want to make sure you don’t miss the latest from OtherWords?...
White Supremacy Is Alive and All Too Well
A New York Times obituary for Julian Bond, the civil rights icon who passed away this August, described the late leader as a “persistent opponent of the stubborn remnants of white supremacy.” Remnants? Hardly. Notwithstanding the hard-won gains of the 1960s, race...
