It’s no secret the GOP hates Attorney General Eric Holder. If you want to start a fight with your Fox News-o-phile uncle, just say, “The attorney general will not cast aspersions on my asparagus!” as Rep. Louie Gohmert famously did during a House Judiciary hearing on the Boston Bombings in 2013. This was after Holder… Continue reading
Column: The First Female President
This year marks the 20-year anniversary of Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Fourth World Conference on Women titled, “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights.” It was 1995 when then-First Lady Clinton went to Beijing and while on Chinese soil challenged the world to see women’s issues as not separate from the rest of humanity. “The progress… Continue reading
Column: Bill O’Reilly: The Make-Believe War Correspondent
AÂ report that Fox News juggernaut Bill O’Reilly has been fluffing his war zone encounters was met with a collective chortle. Mainly because, we, as a media-consuming public are not surprised to hear O’Reilly makes stuff up. The sun will rise in the east and Bill O’Reilly will call some undeserving person a “thug” ””or in… Continue reading
The Rise of the Charlatans
At the birth of every conspiracy theory is the question, “Who profits?” In the dark reaches of anonymous Internet forums, the answer is always Big Government, Big Pharma, Big Farm-a and occasionally Satan, aliens, the Illuminati, the Knights Templar, or the Pentavirate””some omnipotent all-powerful force that enviously pulls off vast nefarious synchronization perfectly. And this… Continue reading
The Entertainment Industry Enabled Cosby
Hollywood is rumored to be a liberal bastion. Why exactly? Because a couple of actors raised some money for Obama? Hollywood as a business is far from liberal. Its core value isn’t progress; its core value is profit. If “Fifty Shades of Grey” can make money, it’s produced. If “The Passion of the Christ” can… Continue reading
Choosing Weed Policy Over Cyber Security
A cyber attack altered your holiday movie choices last year. Sony Pictures was the victim of a massive security breach. Personal emails were revealed, films pirated and employee data leaked. The corporation immediately kowtowed to the terrorists, rumored to be North Korean-sponsored, killing the theatrical release of the third in a trilogy of Seth Rogan… Continue reading
America’s Also-Ran Industrial Complex
We often hear about the corrupting influence of money in politics. This usually means quid pro quos for moneyed interests. There’s lip service paid to the amount of cash a politician must raise in order to even run for office. Famously, former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer ran for president in 2012 by only taking $200… Continue reading
Column: A Tale of Two Christmases
Last Saturday, I found myself sharing a New York City subway train with protesters from the Millions March and drunken revelers from SantaCon. Both events drew comparable-sized crowds, hovering around 25,000 participants each. Both ended up on the tiny island of Manhattan on the same day. And this coincidence is a perfect metaphor for Christmas… Continue reading
Column: Torture is Illegal. We’re a Nation of Laws
Torture is illegal. Period. End of debate. There is no legal, moral or probable justification for torture. It’s against the Bill of Rights; it’s against the Geneva Convention; it’s against United Nations Convention Against Torture (ratified by the U.S. in 1994); it’s against every state statute from every modern constitutional democracy and every decent and… Continue reading
Column: Thank Secularists for Christmas
According to thinkers like also-ran presidential candidate Rick Santorum, America is a Christian nation. Really? The Bible is pro-slavery and pro-monarch””two things Americans are (now at least) decidedly against. So how are we a Christian nation, exactly? “It’s because of the Pilgrims trek to the New World in search of religious liberty that makes us… Continue reading
Officer Darren Wilson Isn’t the Point
The officer shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri last August has rallied Americans to their camps: The pro-Officer Darren Wilson vs. pro-unarmed black teenager. In the wake of the grand jury’s decision not to indict the officer, each side is now digging in their heels. It’s personal, it’s visceral and now it… Continue reading
Column: Republicans Can Stop Pretending They Want Immigration Reform
Illegal immigrants are the perfect Republican foe. They’re easily exploited as low-cost workers benefiting business and easily maligned for being “lawless” benefiting politicians. They’re a foreign other with a tendency not to speak English so suspicion is ready-made. Plus how are illegal immigrants going to stick up for themselves? They’re not. They’re an ideal rival!… Continue reading
What I Have to Say in the Wake of the TAL Episode Airing
I’d like to answer some of the responses I’ve gotten since my story aired on This American Life last week. First off, to the AAers who have accused me of “violating the traditions”: Calm down. AA is not a secret society. It’s not the Masons. That cited tradition, a custom really, pertains to AA advertising…. Continue reading
Column: Think Over ‘Under God’
Did you hear atheists are suing god? According to Fox News’ for-profit preacher Mike Huckabee they do it all the time! “Dear Lord!” he tweeted this week, “Atheists are suing God AGAIN!” Never mind the spurious premise of a group of people suing the very thing they don’t believe in. That’d be like Republicans suing… Continue reading