Thank Farmers and Grocery Workers for Their Service

| Apr 1, 2020 | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Environment / Health|Food / Farming|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyAs a veteran of the U.S. Army, I’m often thanked for my service. I’ve never felt comfortable receiving this thanks. To be honest, I’m not proud of my participation in the Iraq War. But recently, as the initial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic gripped...

Q & A on the G.O.P.’s Call for Elder Sacrifice

| | Economy / Business|Environment / Health|HP SubfeaturedThe second highest office-holder of the great state of Texas, Republican Lieutenant General Dan Patrick, recently proclaimed on Fox News that lots of senior citizens would be willing — or should be, anyway — to sacrifice their lives to coronavirus in order to save the...

We Need a Lot More Transparency from the CDC

| | Environment / Health|HP Subfeatured|Rights / Democracy“COVID-19 is a White man’s disease. It doesn’t seem to infect Black people,” posited Jane, a community leader in New Haven, Connecticut, who had come to the U.S. as a refugee from Africa many years ago. Jane addressed my team of health researchers and members of...

Stay in Your Home — And Stay Angry

| Mar 25, 2020 | Economy / Business|Environment / Health|HP SubfeaturedSocial distancing is hard, and it’s not fun. I don’t question that we are doing what is necessary. Until better testing, treatment, and prevention are available, it is. But quarantining us in our homes separates us at a time when we need connection. And you know...

Wash Your Hands — If You Have Water

| Mar 24, 2020 | Environment / Health|HP Subfeatured|Rights / DemocracyWash your hands. That’s life-saving advice right now. But what does it mean for people without access to water? A pandemic exposes all of our broken structures, from lack of health care to a government that responds more to Wall Street than the common good....

What 9/11 Can Teach Us About Responding to Coronavirus

| | Economy / Business|Editors Picks|Environment / Health|HP Subfeatured|Peace / SecurityOn the morning of September 11, 2001, my colleagues and I handed out water on Lower Broadway. We were lawyers who served some of the poorest communities in New York, but quenching the thirst of stunned victims proved to be the best thing we could do at the time. In...