Rights and Democracy
America’s Construction Carnage
Try this the next time you find yourself standing on a Wall Street corner. Ask the first power suit you see why Wall Street’s finest deserve to be making $25 billion in bonuses a year. Wall Streeters actually have a ready response for impertinent questions like this:...
Uncle Sam Wants… Your Social Security Check
Uncle Sam wants you! Not the Uncle Sam who’s the symbolic caricature of our country, but Sam Johnson. Although he’s been a member of Congress for more than a quarter of a century, you've probably never heard of him. Johnson's been what’s known in legislative circles...
You’re Fired!
The Trouble with Trump’s ‘Alternative Facts’
About an hour after Donald Trump was sworn in, I was having lunch with my wife and our five-month-old. As we picked at our food outside my office in D.C.’s Dupont Circle neighborhood, groups of tourists trickled by in Trump regalia. Early the next morning, as I dumped...
How to Keep Marching for Women, and Yourself
Across the U.S. women just pulled off the largest protest in American history. They were joined by sister marches around the world — in Europe, Africa, and even Antarctica. But before we get carried away with euphoria, we should heed some wise words from a former...
Billionaires Are Tampering with Our Constitution
When you think of America’s great constitutional minds, names like Madison, Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin come to mind. And, of course, Abbott. Wait, who's Abbott? Last year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott revealed that he'd penned nine new amendments to the U.S....
In Trump We Trust
If You’re Against Immigrants, You’re Against My Grandma
One day in a Latvian town more than 100 years ago, when my grandmother wasn't much more than a girl, she heard that the czar’s “recruiters” were coming to conscript men into the Russian army for 20-year terms. Two days before they came, a handsome young man she'd...
Don’t Judge Sessions By His Cover
King’s Dream Still Isn’t Reality
Not long ago, I saw a comment on an online article about the rise in protests for black civil rights. "We gave you a president," wrote the commenter. "We gave you your damn Oscar. What more do you want?" Never mind the White House. What many black people still long...
