Rights and Democracy
The War on Love
A lot of conservative religious leaders say people of faith are being "silenced" or "persecuted" here in the United States. They’ve sung that refrain for decades. It's especially common in their losing battle against the growing public support for the legal equality...
The GOP Bucks Teddy Roosevelt’s Legacy
Republican lawmakers celebrated Tax Day by voting to repeal the estate tax. If they get their way, the multi-millionaires and billionaires who fund their election campaigns will reap a huge tax break. First, some myth busting. The federal tax on inheritance only...
The High Cost of Low Taxes
Earlier this month, I arrived in San Diego following five days of driving across the country from Wisconsin. I pulled into my friend's driveway, brought my things inside, and went back to my car to park it on the street. Almost immediately, a cop's siren and flashing...
Stripping Bare the Arguments against Marriage Equality
What’s the marriage equality debate really about? Proponents see it as a question of equality. There’s no reason, they say, not to let loving, same-sex couples wed. Opponents frame the issue as a fight over whether the courts have the right to change their definition...
Send in the Clowns
Hardly a day goes by that another candidate doesn’t announce his or her intention to run for the presidency. One day it’s Carly Fiorina, the next it’s Mike Huckabee, Bernie Sanders, or Hillary Clinton, even. It’s like the circus — when the little car rolls into the...
A Mailman on a Mission
Neither rain, sleet, nor snow — nor even the likelihood that he'd be killed — could stop this letter carrier from making his appointed rounds. Doug Hughes is one gutsy mailman. In April, this rural letter carrier from Florida embarrassed Washington's haughty security...
A Populist Balancing Act
From Rage to Reform
Another city just erupted in rage in response to a police killing. After a week of peaceful protests following the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, "Charm City" was in flames. The authorities declared a state of emergency and deployed the National Guard. In less...
Letter to Loretto
John Kiriakou is a former CIA officer. Back in 2007, he became the first U.S. government official to confirm — and condemn — the practice of torture by CIA interrogators. After a drawn-out legal battle, federal authorities convicted Kiriakou of leaking classified...
The Baltimore Uprising’s Backstory
What started out as righteous protest over the death of a young black man in the hands of Baltimore cops (he had been accused of “making eye contact with a police officer”) quickly degenerated into a full-scale riot. By nightfall the city was on fire, its hopes for a...
