Rights and Democracy
John Kiriakou Wins Big Honor
When the OtherWords editorial service began running John Kiriakou’s column in May, it became an instant hit. His opinion pieces on whistleblowing, national security, mass incarceration, and other vital issues now run in dozens of newspapers and websites, thanks to his...
Bright Ideas from the GOP’s Finest
We're officially just under a year away from Election Day 2016. We’ve already been bombarded for months with red-hot anti-tax, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, and anti-poor rhetoric from a fool’s dozen Republican candidates. Can we really take another 12 months of this?...
Even Republicans Agree: Money Isn’t Speech
In today's so-called “democratic” election process, Big Money doesn’t talk, it roars — usually drowning out the people's voice. Bizarrely, the Supreme Court decreed in its 2010 Citizens United ruling that money is a form of “free speech.” Thus, declared the learned...
Paul Ryan vs. the People
Paul Ryan paints himself as a champion of "the people" over "Washington." But the "people" the new House speaker defends are corporations. And the "Washington" he attacks is the one that does deliver for real people. For the past five years, Ryan has authored the...
Racial Slurs Have No Place in Football
The leaves are changing. The scent of pumpkin spice lattes is in the air. In short, it’s football season. And like millions of my fellow Americans, I love football. But I'm also American Indian. So for me, football season also means hearing a racial slur all the time....
Away with the Clowns
Is it me or are the GOP presidential debates getting more circus-like each time? The recent CNBC "Your Money, Your Vote" debate began with this beauty pageant question: "What’s your greatest weakness?" Who asks a bunch of narcissists that question and expects a real...
Please Don’t Shoot the Moderators
We were treated to a classic man-bites-dog moment at the latest Republican presidential debate. There the moderators were, CNBC’s finest, lying in ambush with their carefully crafted “when did you stop beating your wife” questions at the ready. But as soon as they...
Why Are We Hearing So Much about Those Damn Danes?
If you ask Bernie Sanders about his version of socialism, you'll probably hear a lot about the small Scandinavian country perhaps best known for inventing Legos. Anderson Cooper experienced this firsthand when he asked about the Vermont senator's embrace of democratic...
Instead of Pardoning a Turkey, Obama Should Free This Man
As Thanksgiving approaches, I’ve got a suggestion for President Barack Obama. Instead of following the White House tradition and “pardoning“ a turkey destined for a holiday dinner table, Obama should extend that courtesy to some of the thousands of human beings caged...
Staffing Up for Corruption
Oh, great — just what America's Big Money politics needed: more campaign consultants. Already, candidates are walled off from people, reality, and any honesty about themselves by a battalion of highly specialized consultants controlling everything from issues to...
