Politics
-
The F.B.I.’s Many Hurdles
It’s now been widely reported that Omar Mateen, the gunman who massacred 49 people at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando last Sunday, had been investigated twice by the F.B.I. How Mateen somehow slipped through the cracks has aroused concern among many and conspiracy theories among a few. The real explanations are, of course, more nuanced…
-
Net Neutrality Wins Big
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the F.C.C. today, ruling that high-speed broadband is a utility. Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the F.C.C., celebrated what Jon Brodkin called a “total victory”: “Today’s ruling is a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire Web, and it…
-
Making History?
The folks over at Reason have their super hot take on Hillary Clinton’s nomination: It’s the kind of surface-level thinking we’ve long come to expect from the libertarian crowd. No, Hillary Clinton isn’t going to solve all of America’s problems by virtue of being a woman. But there is evidence to support the notion that the first female…
-
That’s more like it.
Remember when I dreamed of a politician who would actually call Donald Trump a racist without beating around the bush? Of course Elizabeth Warren answered the call. Sen. Elizabeth Warren launched a blistering attack Thursday night at Donald Trump, calling the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a “fraud” and “thin-skinned, racist bully.” She even threw in “fraud,”…
-
Likely a racist?
Rep. Reid Ribble (R) of Wisconsin says Donald Trump is “likely a racist.” Three-term GOP Rep. Reid Ribble of Wisconsin told CNN on Wednesday Trump’s comments — that federal judge Gonzalo Curiel could not rule fairly in a Trump University case because of his Mexican heritage — is a “racist” remark, putting him in line…
-
We have to do better than the death penalty.
Clint Smith writes on the injustice of the death penalty for The New Yorker: Those who support the death penalty are accepting a practice that is both ineffective and fundamentally flawed. It means supporting a system that not infrequently kills those with serious mental illness. It means supporting a system in which an execution is far more likely to…
-
Beyoncé and Sweatshops
It turns out Beyoncé’s sportswear line, “Ivy Park,” is made in a Sri Lankan sweatshop where workers experience “abominable working conditions and very low pay.” The Frisky: In a breathless lede, Page Six reports on a facet of the fast fashion business that anyone with common sense would understand, writing that “Multi-millionaire singer Beyoncé reportedly…
-
The Extraterrestrial Lobby
Stephen Bassett is very excited. Bassett is the United States’ only lobbyist dedicated to extraterrestrial issues, and his world has been rocked in the past couple of weeks. I hope that this is only just the beginning. This is the biggest news story in history. After presidential candidate Hillary Clinton discussed the possibility of human-alien…
-
Hanoi’s New Arms?
Dan de Luce and Keith Johnson at Foreign Policy report that the U.S. ban on arms sales to Vietnam is likely no more. The White House appears poised to end a ban on arms sales to Vietnam in time for a landmark visit by President Barack Obama later this month, despite misgivings from some lawmakers and human…
-
How to Waste $1.4 Billion
Scientific American highlights a new study on the effectiveness of a $1.4 billion U.S. program to promote abstinence until marriage in order to prevent the spread of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. The program has proved inadequate, to say the least: A rigorous comparison of national data from countries that received abstinence funding under the 2003 U.S. President’s…
Timothy Pate 