Paul Ryan Wrote His Own Obituary, and It’s Delusional
Ever since he announced his retirement in April, Speaker Paul Ryan has largely avoided the limelight, emerging now and then to repel another far-right rebellion in the House or gently criticize...
View ArticleHow the Roberts Court Caused Georgia’s Election Mess
Chief Justice John Roberts made a bold declaration on the state of American race relations in 2013. “Our country has changed,” he concluded in his majority opinion in Shelby County v. Holder, “and...
View ArticleCan Megachurches Save El Salvador?
At a small jail outside San Salvador, Brother David Borja lifted his sunglasses to talk a guard into letting us inside. The cell, originally intended for temporary holding, smelled of sweat and urine....
View ArticleClimate Change Is Aggravating the Suffering in Yemen
When I asked Moosa Elayah to describe where he was born—a province in Yemen called Ibb—the first thing he said was “green,” which makes sense. Ibb, in the southwestern corner of the country, is the...
View ArticleIs a Liberal Takeover Afoot in Colorado?
Colorado voters won’t just be choosing elected officials when they go to the polls on Tuesday. They’ll be deciding, via a controversial ballot initiative, the future of the oil and gas industry in the...
View ArticleA Hopeless Election
Stumping for Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams last week, former President Barack Obama made the case that Tuesday’s midterms were an existential test for the country. The midterms “may be...
View ArticleAnatomy of a Successful Anti-Gentrification Protest
Just two weeks ago, banners and stickers all over the neighborhood read, “Fuck off, Google.” Now, many simply say “Tschüss” (“Bye”).In November 2016, the tech giant announced plans for a seventh Google...
View ArticleThe Kafkaesque Machinery of the Death Penalty in America
The Supreme Court, its conservative majority in place for years, no longer debates whether state-imposed death is morally right or constitutionally valid. Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation last...
View ArticleIt Was a Big, Beautiful Blue Wave
Only two hours after election results started trickling in, CNN correspondent Jake Tapper brought the gavel down. “This is not a blue wave,” he declared. “This is not a wave knocking out all sorts of...
View ArticleAmerica Voted. The Climate Lost.
The last two years in American politics have spelled trouble for the global climate, thanks largely to the Trump administration. And the next two years probably won’t be much better, given the results...
View ArticleThe Unlearned Lessons of the Beirut Barracks Bombing
The man drove his truck up the road. Plowing through flimsy wire fencing, he veered through the lot, and shot towards a building in the back.He smiled. And then he blew up the building. Using around...
View ArticleWhat Do Our Oldest Books Say About Us?
There are four original manuscripts containing poetry in Old English—the now-defunct language of the medieval Anglo-Saxons—that have survived to the present day. No more, no less. They are: the...
View ArticleIs Climate Bipartisanship Dead?
In 2016, two members of Congress—one Republican and one Democrat—decided they wanted to end partisan gridlock over global warming. So, in partnership with the advocacy group Citizens’ Climate Lobby,...
View ArticleThe Agony and Malice of Jeff Sessions
Jeff Sessions, who resigned on Wednesday, ranked as one of the most regressive political figures to ever lead the Justice Department. The ousted attorney general spent the last two years reshaping...
View ArticleScott Walker Thought He Could Get Away With Corporate Welfare
Scott Walker thought he had cracked the code. “You divide and conquer,” he famously told a major right-wing donor, days before beginning his first term as Wisconsin’s governor. If he could break the...
View ArticleThe Outsider Democrats Who Built the Blue Wave
On Saturday, November 3, three days before the midterms, 200 volunteers gathered in Modena, New York, to canvass for Antonio Delgado, an African American lawyer and first-time congressional candidate....
View ArticleCoal Ash Kills Workers. Trump Kills Coal Ash Regulations.
Ten years ago, environmental disaster struck Kingston, Tennessee. A dike containing massive amounts of coal waste burst, releasing 1.1 billion gallons of the heavy-metal sludge onto land and into...
View ArticleMitt Romney Is the New Jeff Flake
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump spent his first press conference after a midterm rebuke ranting about the media. He said CNN should be “ashamed of itself” for its coverage of his administration...
View ArticleWhat’s Next for Rent Control?
Last night, more than 100 protesters occupied the downtown Santa Monica offices of The Blackstone Group, a real estate and private equity giant that spent millions of dollars to defeat a ballot measure...
View ArticleAre 100 Years Enough?
The First World War, which ended a century ago Sunday, was supposed to be a hinge-moment in history: a war to end all wars, and a war to end the imperialism that had shaped the West’s interaction with...
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