Rights and Democracy
A Mass Murderer’s Love Song to Trump
"We've had a great relationship," exulted a giddy Donald Trump, following his two-day schmoozefest in Manila with the thuggish Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, who calls himself a "toughie," brags that he's personally killed many people and likes to...
What Trump and Suu Kyi Have in Common
Serving the Middle Class…
Republicans Admit Their Tax Plan Is All About Rich Donors
Sometimes I have to remind myself that people in “real America” with “real jobs” don’t while away their mortal hours reading about politics. But God help me, if you’ve suffered through any coverage of the Republican tax plan, you’ve probably heard three things. First,...
What Real Tax Reform Could Look Like
No matter our politics, most Americans have a beef with taxes. And it's no wonder. Working class Americans pay a much greater share of their income than the wealthiest Americans, who get away with exploiting tax loopholes and paying less than their fair share to...
Mass Incarceration is a Women’s Issue, Too
Over the last few years, our broken criminal justice system has become a national issue as horrific stories of victims of mass incarceration have made their way into the mainstream media. The dominant narrative around this issue is usually that it disproportionately...
The Pain Behind Opioid Abuse
Donald Trump recently declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency. At first I thought, is this the first time I approve of something Trump has done? Alas, no. And here's why: Nine years ago, I lost my brother to a heroin overdose. My brother and I...
A U.S. Soldier Died in Niger. What on Earth Are We Doing There?
In our military-revering culture, it’s a strange thing for a president to start a war of words with the grieving families of slain soldiers. Strange, yes. But from Donald Trump’s campaign season feud with the parents of Humayun Khan, who died protecting fellow...
Leading Democrats Are Way Behind the Public on Health Care
Good news, people — at last, congressional Democrats have gotten a clue, grown some spine, and are beginning to act like… well, like progressives. In particular, a majority of Dems in the U.S. House are responding to the rising public demand that decent health care be...
There’s No Defending Founding Fathers Who Practiced Slavery
This summer, on the very day that white supremacists rioted in Charlottesville, Virginia, I was down the road visiting Montpelier — the home of James Madison, our fourth president. On the house tour, we stopped in Madison's upstairs library, where he spent hundreds of...
