It’s firmly in the Christian ethos to identify as being persecuted. Jesus stood up to the establishment and was tortured and murdered for it. To be a Christian is to worship a martyr. So it’s been easy for America’s religious leaders/politicians to convince the devout they too are under assault. That in a country of… Continue reading →

This week, the junior senator from Texas, Ted Cruz, kicked off the 2016 Republican primary season at a university founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell. Liberty University’s students were mandated to attend Cruz’s announcement speech, so Senator Cruz enjoyed a packed house of attentive students accustomed to being preached at. “Imagine,” he asked, “a president who… Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

A 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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →