Rights and Democracy
Ethics Training for Congress? Dream On
Do you — or does anyone — really need a book of rules and a three-hour briefing to do your job ethically? If you're a Congress critter, apparently so. For that's what newly elected lawmakers have just received. Nearly all those newcomers rode to victory on a tsunami...
Four Ways 2014 Was a Pivotal Year for the Internet
The death of the Internet is at hand. Sound familiar? That’s what Internet pioneer Robert Metcalfe predicted in 1995 when he wrote that spiraling demands on the fledgling network would cause the Internet to "catastrophically collapse" by 1996. Metcalfe, of course, was...
Dreamers Need Not Apply for Health Care
With the second open enrollment period for Affordable Care Act coverage underway, millions of Americans are gaining new access to health care. But there’s one group of people that won’t be signing up anytime soon. These are young immigrants in the United States — over...
America’s ‘Post-Racial’ Lie
Shortly before Michael Brown’s fateful encounter with Ferguson cop Darren Wilson, I was appointed as a teaching assistant in a class on race and ethnicity. I'm white. I didn't go to grad school to study race — I study agriculture. When it comes to race, I'm clueless....
Fomenting the Fear of Foreigners
Gosh, has it been two whole years since Republican leaders vowed to reach out to Latino voters with "a more welcoming, inclusive message" and "positive solutions on immigration"? My how time flies when you're having elections. The GOP's "outreach" was on full display...
Obama’s Immigration Action Doesn’t Go Far Enough
Inocencio Vernal has picked broccoli, sweet potatoes, corn, and celery in U.S. farms for more than 25 years. This holiday season, you might end up feasting on the fruits of his labor. Yet Vernal, like 53 percent of farmworkers, is undocumented. This means that he...
Big Media’s Crummy Advice for Democrats
Before anyone even knew just how badly the Democrats would get trounced in the 2014 midterm elections, some pundits were already sending the party a message: Be more like the Republicans. Now they don't put it that way, exactly. The professional campaign watchers like...
The Elephant in the Room
Obama Pardons Two Republican Turkeys
Thanksgiving — a time of grace and family sharing — will get an extra bit of grace from the White House this year. Just as the president has done for the last 25 years, Barack Obama will grant clemency to two turkeys that otherwise could've become the main entrée for...
Obama Jumps into the Net Neutrality Debate
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama added his voice to the nearly 4 million people who have urged the Federal Communications Commission to preserve the open Internet and protect free speech online. The president’s statement was a clear, concise directive on how...
