Rights and Democracy
The Passion of Scalia
My mother always told me never to speak ill of the dead. For that reason I won't go on at length about Antonin Scalia, the recently departed Supreme Court justice. My opinion wouldn’t be worth that much anyway. I didn’t know the man — I was never even in the same room...
![The [Redacted] Truth about the CIA](https://i0.wp.com/otherwords.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/14127655320_6e75711467_o.jpg?resize=533%2C428&ssl=1)
The [Redacted] Truth about the CIA
It's no secret that the CIA isn't always up front with the public about its operations. You may even be kept in the dark if you're an elected official. But did you know the agency even lies to its own employees? That's the subject of a recent Washington Post report on...
No Candidate is Perfect
Let me tell you something people don't often say when arguing about presidential candidates on Facebook: No candidate is perfect. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth choosing to support one. For example, you can support Bernie Sanders because you believe he's the...
Scalia’s Big Shoes
The Blind Spots of Dead White Men
As the rest of the nation celebrates Black History Month this February, I’m taking a graduate level course I call “Dead White Men.” It's actually a classic theory class that covers a number of influential thinkers, like free market theorist Adam Smith and the famous...
Billionaire vs. Billionaire
Political Poison
One big difference between the rich and the poor in our country is that the rich don't tend to have their drinking water poisoned by their own governor. Not that Republican Governor Rick Snyder personally dumped poison into Flint, Michigan's water. But by dumping his...
We Still Need Black History Month
America’s racial disparity won’t disappear if we simply ignore it.
The Election Moves On
Before the Iowa caucuses were mercifully laid to rest, I predicted that the surging Donald Trump — he of what George H.W. Bush called "the Big Mo" — would win the Republican contest handily. Bernie Sanders, I believed, would be confounded by the complexity of the...
Let’s End Torture in U.S. Prisons
Solitary confinement is exactly what it sounds like. A prisoner is kept in a small cell — usually 6 feet by 10 — alone, for 23 hours a day. For one hour a day, he or she may be taken into a small cage outside, with the opportunity to walk in circles before being taken...
